Versão Portuguesa lumni tlas  
Contacts
home | award | regulation
Award Regulation

Regulation

Article 1 (Duty to promote scientific research)

Vieira de Almeida & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados, RL (“VdA”), through VdAcademia, created the VdAcademia Award (hereinafter “Award”) for the purpose of promoting legal research, which VdA deems to be one of its duties as a law firm.

The VdAcademia Award (O Prémio VdAcademia)

  1. The Award is granted annually, through a competition intended to reward the author of the best essay on the proposed theme.
  2. The subject matter of the essays is announced on the website www.vdacademia.pt and through Universities on a date to be defined by VdAcademia.
  3. The value of the VdAcademia Award is €4,000 (four thousand euros) for the best rated essay or, if granted ex aequo to two or more authors, €2,500 (two thousand, five hundred euros) for each author. It also awarded an honorable mention in the amount of € 1,000 (euros).
  4. Whenever 1st place is granted to only one essay, up to two honours may be awarded, each corresponding to €750 (seven hundred and fifty euros).

Article 3 (Sponsors)

  1. VdAcademia reserves the right to accept sponsors for the Award, namely legal books publishers, universities or any corporate entities which show any interest in providing sponsorship.
  2. The value of any sponsorship, if pecuniary, shall accrue to the amount of the Award and of the honours, pro rata the respective value of each.
  3. The existence of sponsorships shall be announced on the website www.vdacademia.pt.

Article 4 (Admission criteria)

  1. Any students enrolled in a law degree in a Portuguese university may apply for the Award.
  2. Students mentioned in the previous number which are attending Portuguese universities under the ERASMUS programme may also apply.
  3. Only one essay per candidate will be admitted, with up to two candidates being able to co-author one essay.
  4. A candidate may enter the contest in several years, even if previously awarded, but no essay shall be admitted more than once.
  5. The essays shall be written in Portuguese and shall be unpublished, not having been entered into any other contest, academic or otherwise, nor having been included into any masters reports or similar, in relation to any post-graduate courses

Article 5 (Submission of the Essays)

  1. Candidates must submit their essays within the deadline set by VdAcademia, through an online application using the form available at www.vdacademia.pt or by sending the form to vdacademia@vda.pt, in Word and .PDF version, or by mail (To: Avenida Duarte Pacheco, n.º26, 1070-110, Lisboa, attention VdAcademia), in which case the essay must be enclosed in a closed envelope containing all documents mentioned in no. 4, a CD-ROM with a copy of the essay in digital format and two copies of the essay.
  2. The essay may not exceed 35,000 characters (no spaces) and must be written in “Times New Roman” font, size 12, with line spacing of 1.5. Footnotes shall have the same font and spacing, with font size 10.
  3. As a generic guideline, the essays should have the same structure: index, introduction, development, conclusion and bibliography.
  4. Whenever the essay is to be delivered by post, candidates must also enclose the duly filled application form, available at www.vdacademia.pt.

Article 6 (Jury)

  1. The Jury shall be formed by up to 5 members, one of which shall preside, all such members being appointed annually by the Scientific Council of VdAcademia, and individuals unrelated to VdA may be included therein.
  2. The decisions of the Jury will not be subject to appeal.

Article 7 (Evaluation and classification)

  1. In granting the Award and the honours, the jury shall have regard to consistency of ideas and speech, to the relevant investigation effort, to literary perfection and to presentation.
  2. No grades will be attributed to the essays. The jury will select the best essay or the two best essays ex aequo and, if applicable, those to which honours shall be awarded.

Article 8 (Admission and decision on the essays)

  1. The Jury shall exclude from consideration the essays which:
    1. Are submitted after the deadline;
    2. Subject matter is different from the proposed theme;
    3. Do not comply with the requirements set out in this Regulation;
    4. Author, or relevant application, does not comply with the requirements and formalities set out in this Regulation
  2. Plagiarism shall be penalised with the annulment of the relevant essay.
  3. The Jury will deliberate on the awarded essays until the end of the deadline defined by VdAcademia, which shall be announced on the website www.vdacademia.pt.
  4. In the event that the admitted essays lack sufficient merit, the Jury may decide not to grant the Award.

Article 9 (Announcement and delivery of the Award)

  1. The jury will announce its decision as to the awarded essays on the VdA and VdAcademia websites, and will give personal notice to the awarded candidate(s) and written notice to all others.
  2. Delivery of the Awards shall take place in a ceremony to be conducted at a venue selected by VdAcademia, preferably within 30 days following the announcement of the Jury’s decision.

Article 10 (Publication and disclosure of the essays)

  1. The author(s) of awarded essays authorise VdAcademia to carry out publication of such essays on the websites www.vda.pt e www.vdacademia.pt or elsewhere, and/or to distribute them to people, companies or public entities.
  2. The author(s) of awarded essays authorise VdAcademia, at the latter’s discretion, to disclose their essays to the media.
  3. The author(s) of awarded essays will assist VdAcademia in all steps necessary to carry out the actions foreseen in the previous numbers.
  4. VdAcademia shall give prior notice to the author(s) of awarded essays of the options taken by VdAcademia with regard to the distribution, publication and disclosure of the said essays.

Article 11 (Amendments to the Regulation)

  1. This Regulation may be amended by VdAcademia.
  2. Any amendments to this Regulation which are inserted following the beginning of the deadline for the presentation of the essays shall not be applicable to that edition of the Award.

Article 12 (Clarifications and Omissions)

  1. The candidates may request clarifications to the rules of the competition from VdAcademia, through the e-mail address .
  2. Any clarifications shall be rendered by the Scientific Council of VdAcademia, which will also be responsible for dealing with any doubts or omissions arising out of this Regulation.