Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 UNSW Law Essay Competition

Congratulations to Daniel Lopez who has won the 2012 UNSW Law essay competition. Daniel’s essay was selected from entries submitted by Year 11 and 12 students from schools across Australia who wrote on the Mabo decision.

In 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating said that the High Court decision in Mabo ‘establishes a fundamental truth and lays the basis for justice’. What did he mean by this statement?

This year’s essay topic marked the 20^th anniversary of the Mabo decision. Judges included academics from UNSW Law’s Indigenous Law Centre who were impressed with the very high standard of entries and the students’ understanding of the issues surrounding the Mabo decision.

 UNSW Law and the Indigenous Law Centre congratulate the following students:

Winner: Daniel Lopez, Year 12, Emmanuel School, Victoria - Essay

Runner Up: Brigitte Rheinberger, Year 12, Abbotsleigh, NSW - Essay

Third Place: Nicholas Yuen, Year 12, Killara High School, NSW - Essay

Winner Daniel Lopez said, "To be have won the UNSW Law Essay Competition is a fantastic honour! It was great to be able to apply the writing skills and legal knowledge that I have learnt at school to real world issues. I found the topic immensely interesting as it not only called for the Mabo decision to be viewed through a legal perspective, but also required me to evaluate the outcomes the decision had on shaping Australian society and politics."

We also thank all students who submitted an essay. Your time and effort in preparing your essay will be acknowledged in a participation certificate which will be posted to all entrants.

To read the winning essay click here.