CCIL Awards for Excellence in Scholarship

To recognize the work of Canadian scholars of international law, each year, the CCIL conducts a competition for Excellence in Scholarship, alternating between scholarly books and scholarly papers that make a substantial contribution to the international law literature.

CCIL Scholarly Paper Award

The CCIL Scholarly Paper Award is conducted every two years for scholarly papers that make a substantial contribution to the international law literature.

SUBMISSION PROCESS CLOSED
Next Submission year: 2027

Scholarly Paper Award Recipients

2023 Scholarly Paper Award Winner

Ryan Liss

The CCIL is pleased to announce that Ryan Liss has been awarded the 2023 Scholarly Paper Award for his article entitled “Criminal Law in a World of States” which was published in the Michigan Journal of International Law (2022).

This award recognizes the work of Canadian scholars of international law, and specifically scholarly papers that make a substantial contribution to the international law literature.

Ryan Liss is an Assistant Professor and the Co-Director of the Public and Private International Law Research Group at Western Law. His research focuses on public international law (including international human rights law, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law) and criminal law, examining the ways in which human rights construct and constrain state power in both areas.

Ryan’s work has appeared in the American Journal of International Law, the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Michigan Journal of International Law, and NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, among other journals. His first monograph, which is currently in progress, is under contract with Oxford University Press. More...

Ryan is also 2012 John Peters Humphrey Fellowship recipient.

Penelope Simons

Melisa Handl

2021 Scholarly Paper Award Winners

The Canadian Council on International Law is pleased to announce Penelope Simons & Melisa Handl as the 2021 recipients of the CCIL Scholarly Paper Award for their co-authored paper entitled: “Relations of Ruling: A Feminist Critique of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Violence against Women in the Context of Resource Extraction”. UTP Press

The paper provides a rigorous and innovative analysis of the United Nations Guiding Principles and is a significant contribution to international law scholarship. The paper engages with two different areas of international law, i.e. feminist approach to international law and international human rights law, and enlightens the debate of a cutting-edge topic in the field, from an innovative theoretical perspective. It also engages critically with the provisions and lacunas of the Guiding Principles. The paper is well written and provides in-depth research and analysis of issues that are both relevant for international law scholarship as well as Canadian law and policy due to its focus on extractive industries.

Penelope Simons Associate Professor and Vice Dean Research,

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law

https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/en/people/simons-penelope

Melisa Handl is a PhD candidate

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
https://llmphd.uottawa.ca/en/melisa-handl

2019 Scholarly Paper Award Winners

The CCIL is pleased to announce the following winners of its inaugural Scholarly Paper Award:

Gregory Fox, Kristen Boon and Isaac Jenkins for “The Contributions of United Nations Security Council Resolutions to the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict: New Evidence of Customary International Law” (American University Law Review, Vol. 67, p. 649, 2018)

Joanna Harrington for “The Working Methods of The United Nations Security Council: Maintaining The Implementation of Change” (International & Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol 66, Issue 1, 2017)

David Hughes

2025 Scholarly Paper Award Recipients

The CCIL would like to congratulate David Hughes and Yahli Shereshevsky as the recipients of the 2025 Scholarly Paper Award for their article “State-Academic Lawmaking”, Published in the 2023 issue of the Harvard International Law Journal; 2023 | Issue 2, Volume 6.

David Hughes is a Lecturer at Trinity College, University of Toronto and Yahli Shereshevsky is an Associate Professor at the University of Haifa, Faculty of Law.

The CCIL Scholarly Award recognizes the work of Canadian scholars of international law, and specifically scholarly papers that make a substantial contribution to the international law literature.

Yahli Shereshevsky

Honourable Mention

The CCIL would also like to acknowledge Camille Martini's article «From Fact to Applicable Law: What Role for the International Climate Change Regime in Investor-State Arbitration?» (Canadian Yearbook of International Law, (2024), 1–36 doi:10.1017/cyl.2024.2 (Cambridge University Press) which received an Honourable Mention.

Camille Martini

Submission

CALL FOR THE 2025 SCHOLARLY PAPER SUBMISSIONS IS CLOSED.

Next call for Papers: 2027

Any member of CCIL* may submit a paper published in a peer-reviewed law review or other academic journal during the two calendar years prior to the year of the award. Thus, papers eligible for the 2025 award will be published in 2023 or 2024.

The same paper may not be submitted more than once. Co-authored papers may be submitted if the primary author is eligible to submit a paper. Copyright in any paper submitted remains the property of the author(s) or the publisher. The committee will only accept one paper per author. Papers longer than 60 pages in length are not normally considered.

If the selection committee determines that none of the submitted papers in the competition makes a substantial contribution to the international law literature, it may decline to select any paper for the Award. The selection committee may use its own discretion in making these determinations and the decisions of the selection committee are final.

Any award may be made at the CCIL Annual Conference in Fall 2025.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically no later than May 1, 2025

to: ccil-ccdi@intertaskconferences.com.

* Ensure your CCIL membership is up to date at the time of your submission.