Chief Justice E.S. Venkataramiah Memorial Best Essay Prize 2026
The National Law School of India Review (NLSIR) has announced the inaugural edition of the Chief Justice E.S. Venkataramiah Memorial Best Essay Prize, a national-level essay competition for undergraduate law students in India. The competition has been instituted with the support of the family of the late Justice E.S. Venkataramiah.
The initiative aims to encourage law students to engage with contemporary constitutional questions through legal, political and economic perspectives.
About the Essay Competition
The competition will be organised annually between July and September and will focus each year on an important contemporary issue in law.
For the inaugural edition, participants are invited to explore the relationship between the Indian Constitution, Directive Principles of State Policy and economic ideology.
Essay Theme
“Does the Constitution Choose an Economic Model? Directive Principles and the Question of Ideological Neutrality”
The theme draws upon the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Property Owners’ Association v. State of Maharashtra, particularly the constitutional interpretation of Article 39(b).
Participants are expected to go beyond simply analysing the judgment. The competition encourages deeper discussion about whether the Constitution adopts, permits or rejects particular economic approaches concerning:
- Property ownership
- Redistribution of resources
- Markets and economic freedom
- Welfare and social justice
- Role of the State
- Constitutional interpretation
- Directive Principles of State Policy
- Economic ideology and constitutional neutrality
Eligibility Criteria
The competition is open to:
- Undergraduate law students across India.
- Students enrolled in three-year or five-year law programmes.
- Participants must be studying at a law institution recognised by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
- The participant must remain enrolled as an undergraduate law student when submitting the essay.
A bonafide certificate confirming the student’s enrollment must accompany the submission.
Essay Submission Guidelines
Participants should carefully follow the prescribed requirements:
- The essay must be original and unpublished.
- It must be single-authored.
- The submission must be written in English.
- Essays must successfully clear plagiarism checks.
- Times New Roman, 12-point font should be used.
- The document should have 1.5 line spacing on A4 paper.
- Citations must follow the OSCOLA citation style.
- The essay should comply with the NLSIR Style Guide.
- Abstracts and separate research proposals are not required.
Word Limit
The prescribed word limit is 8,000 to 10,000 words, including footnotes.
Submission Deadline
10 October 2026
Submissions will begin through the designated submission form from 1 September 2026.
There is no registration fee or prior registration requirement. Eligible students can directly submit their completed manuscripts through the prescribed process.
Prize and Publication
The winning essay will receive:
- Cash prize of Rs. 25,000
- Citation plaque bearing the winner’s name
- Opportunity for publication in NLSIR
Shortlisted essays will be assessed by a panel comprising academics and legal practitioners with relevant expertise.
About NLSIR
The National Law School of India Review (NLSIR) is the flagship student-edited, bi-annual, double-anonymous peer-reviewed law journal of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.
Established as one of India’s prominent student-edited law reviews, NLSIR is currently in its 38th year of publication. The journal focuses on rigorous legal scholarship while also encouraging constitutional, theoretical and interdisciplinary research.
Its scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of India in several important cases, including K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, Unaided Private Schools of Delhi v. Director of Education, Union of India v. M/s Mohit Minerals and A.M.U. v. Naresh Agarwal.
Why Law Students Should Participate
The competition provides undergraduate law students with an opportunity to develop advanced legal research and academic writing skills. It can also help students engage with constitutional law beyond conventional case analysis by connecting law with economic theory, political philosophy and comparative constitutional perspectives.
Students with an interest in Constitutional Law, Property Law, Economic Law, Public Law and Legal Theory may find the competition particularly relevant.
How to Submit
Submit Online: Submission Form: 1st Chief Justice E. S. Venkataramiah Memorial Best Essay Prize (NLSIR)
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