The Human Rights and Social Justice Program invites submissions for the annual J. Carlisle Hanson Essay Contest.

Application Deadline: Friday, April 11th, 2025

About the Award

The J. Carlisle Hanson Award in Human Rights is awarded annually on the recommendation of the Director of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies to a student enrolled in the human rights program who submits the best essay addressing the topic of human rights and democracy. Essays are also invited to examine the topics from a Canadian Perspective. Endowed in 2007 by J. Carlisle Hanson, Q.C.

There will be three prizes of $1,000.

Eligibility

  • The contest is open to students who are majoring in Human Rights and Social Justice in a B.A. General, a B.A. Honours, or a B.A. Combined Honours program.
  • The essays under consideration should have been written for one of your courses during the 2024-25 academic years (Spring/Summer 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025).  You are welcome to revise these essays and incorporate instructors’ feedback to prepare your essay for submission.
  • Your chosen essay should have been awarded a grade in the A range.
  • You are eligible to submit only one essay per academic year.

Submission Guidelines

Essay length: 8-20 pages

Format: Typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Number your pages.

Citation Style:  MLA, APA, Chicago, or McGill styles are all acceptable. Only entries that are fully and properly documented will be considered.

The following information must be included on a title page:

  1. Name and student number
  2. Course code and professor’s name for the course in which the paper was written
  3. Date the paper was submitted

NB: Your essay will be reviewed anonymously: please make sure that your name does not appear on any pages after the title page.

Essays shall be submitted electronically in pdf/word format to the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies – iis@carleton.ca.

Please write “J. Carlisle Hanson Essay Contest Submission” in the subject line.

Application Deadline: Friday, April 11th, 2025

Late submissions will not be considered.