Young ITA Writing Competition and Award
“New Voices in International Arbitration”
2026-2027
Young ITA and the Institute for Transnational Arbitration are pleased to invite submissions for the 2026-2027 Young ITA Writing Competition and Award: “New Voices in International Arbitration”.
Background: The Young ITA Writing Competition and Award is a unique opportunity for young professionals to contribute actively to the research of international arbitration and to be recognized as qualified voices in this area, as well as to get involved in the activities of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.
Eligible Participants: Only Members of Young ITA (including academics, practitioners and students) are eligible to submit their papers to the Young ITA Writing Competition. Membership in Young ITA is free of charge and is limited to persons under 40 years old. To become a member, click here.
Topic: The submitted papers should address issues related to any topic in the field of international commercial or investment arbitration.
Submission Guidelines: The paper must be submitted via email to ita@cailaw.org under subject line “Young ITA Competition” by on or before 12 midnight EST on January 15, 2027.
The paper must be the original work of the author, written in English, not published or accepted for publication by any online or print forum, be between 5,000 and 15,000 words, including footnotes. The paper must comply with a widely used citation standard.
Authors using generative AI tools in the preparation of their manuscripts must disclose this use upon submission. AI may only be used as a supplementary aid for language editing or data processing, and must not be used to formulate, structure, or lead the development of legal arguments or original analysis.
One paper per person only is permitted. We will not accept more than one paper per person, even if the total word limit of all papers submitted by such person falls within the above-mentioned word limit.
A co-authored paper is permitted. However, if such co-authored paper is submitted for consideration for the Competition, no other paper may be submitted for the Competition by the respective co-authors. A co-authored paper must comply with all submission requirements detailed in this section, including but not limited to the above-mentioned word limit which remains no more than 15,000 words including footnotes for the co-authored paper.
The paper must be submitted electronically, in Word and PDF format, no later than 12 midnight EST time on January 15, 2027. We will not be accepting hard-copy submissions. Information about the author(s), including their affiliation (if applicable) and their contact details should be stated on a separate cover page for both the submitted Word and PDF documents. These details should not be on the paper itself in order to ensure blind review.
Competitors may withdraw their papers no later than 12 midnight EST on January 15, 2027, being the deadline for submitting the papers.
By submitting a paper for this Competition, all participants must not publish or agree to the publication of their paper by any other publication from the time of submission until July 30, 2027, when the Board of Editors of the “ITA in Review” will be due to render a decision regarding publication of the winning papers in the “ITA in Review.”
Selection of the Winning Paper: The papers shall be judged by two panels.
The First Panel shall be comprised of eight judges, as follows: Young ITA Chair, Young ITA Vice-Chairs, a Young ITA External Communications Co-Chair, a Young ITA Internal Communications Co-Chair, Young ITA Thought Leadership Co-Chairs, and an ITA Member. The First Panel shall select the best three papers to be submitted to the Second Panel for a final decision.
The Second Panel shall consist of three judges, appointed by the Chair of the ITA Advisory Board in consultation with the Chair of the ITA Academic Council and the Young ITA Thought Leadership Co-Chairs. The Second Panel, by majority, shall award the Young ITA Award to the best paper deemed to be of the highest quality submitted in accordance with the Rules. The judges shall consider, among other criteria, the academic quality and the practical utility of the papers.
Prize: The winner will be announced no later than May 3, 2027 and will receive the Young ITA Award, comprising a prize of (i) USD $3,000, (ii) selected books published by Wolters Kluwer and (iii) up to USD $1,500 reimbursement for reasonable expenses to travel to Texas, USA to receive the award at the ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting in June 2027. The 1st place winning paper will be published in the ITA journal, “ITA in Review.”
The other finalist papers shall also be submitted to the “ITA in Review” for consideration, and if approved by the Board of Editors, published in subsequent issue(s) of the journal. The authors of these papers will be informed of the Board of Editors' decision regarding publication by July 30, 2027.
Where any of the finalist papers are published in the “ITA in Review,” the authors shall publish in no other publication or journal without the prior permission of the Editors in Chief.
For questions, please contact Young ITA Thought Leadership Co-Chairs Patricia Snell (psnell@cov.com) and Mark Konstantinidis (markos.konstantinidis@uni.lu) and ITA Coordinator Alliyah Robinson at arobinson@cailaw.org, with copy to ita@cailaw.org, using the subject line “Young ITA Writing Competition”.
The Young ITA Writing Competition and Award “New Voices in International Arbitration” is organized with the support of Wolters Kluwer.