About Andrew Lees
Andrew Lees was the Campaigns Director for Friends of the Earth and a leading environmental campaigner on a range of issues from water pollution to illegal waste dumping. He died suddenly in 1994 while on a working holiday in Madagascar campaigning against a large opencast mine. Read more about the Andrew Lees Trust.
The essay competition was established in his memory and gives students the opportunity to demonstrate a good understanding and analysis of relevant environmental law via a well written and researched essay. The prize is the opportunity to attend and present at the UKELA Annual Conference*
*subject to terms
2023 Competition
We were delighted to have received 12 essays for the annual Andrew Lees Essay writing competition launched in January.
Our thanks to Dr Victoria Jenkins (Associate Professor, Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University) and Dr Kyriaki Noussia (Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Reading) set the question: "If we are to meet the challenges of the climate and nature crises, it is essential to strengthen current approaches to environmental governance." Discuss
They reviewed the essays to select Garima Thakur as the winner saying: "This essay was well written and clearly structured in answer to the question. The essay displayed significant academic rigour and built a strong argument throughout. The essay was also really engaging and accessible to a wide audience. As a result, we thought it would make a good presentation at the UKELA conference."
Garima Thakur, is a first-year undergraduate law student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.
Read her essay HERE
See her presentation at the Annual Conference HERE
Our thanks and congratulations to all the entrants for participating in the competition. You gave Victoria and Kyriaki a hard job selecting a winner!
The entrants were: Jessica Omanua Anabor, Jodie-Lee Boyle, Katt Godfray, George Jeffreys, Olga Makarova, Maya Perera, Jake Pronger, Rebecca Quinlan, Jessica Shemar, Garima Thakur, Anna Tranter and Emily Rose Williams.
Keep an eye out next Spring to take part in the 2024 competition. In the meantime, you’ll be able to read previous winning entries on the website.
Previous winners
2022 - Winner: Sebastian Van Dack-Owens - Read the winning essay
2021 - Winner: Niamh Kelly - Read the winning essay
2020 - The competition did not run in 2020
2019 - Winner: Ryan Ross - Read the winning essay
2018 - Winner: Samuel March - Read the winning essay