Monroe E. Price Media Law Moot Court Competition 2026-27 by University of Oxford [South Asia Rounds Online, 4-7 February 2027; Register by 23 November 2026]

The Monroe E. Price Media Law Moot Court Competition is an annual international moot on media law and freedom of expression. Teams research legal standards at the national, regional and international levels and argue cutting-edge questions in media law in written memorials and oral rounds. The competition was established in 2008 by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford and has been part of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, since 2017. It is named in honour of Professor Monroe E. Price, founder of the Programme.

The competition runs through seven Regional Rounds (South Asia, Asia-Pacific, South East Europe, North East Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas), followed by the selective International Rounds held in person in Oxford.

Under the 2026-27 Eligibility Rules, teams from Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan must compete in the South Asia Rounds to qualify for the International Rounds in Oxford.

The 17th Annual South Asia Regional Rounds are hosted in partnership with the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi and will be held online from 4 to 7 February 2027. Online registration opened on 21 September 2026. Supplementary Rules for the South Asia Round will be published in due course.

The 20th International Rounds, hosted by the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, will take place in person in Oxford from 12 to 16 April 2027. The number of teams qualifying from each region is set in proportion to the number of teams that register in that region.

The official case for the 2026/2027 competition year was published on 7 September 2026. It is set in the fictional Turustein Republic and comes before the Universal Court of Human Rights on two certified issues:

• Whether Turustein violated its obligations to safeguard a fact-checking organisation's right to freedom of expression under Article 19 ICCPR, by failing to take measures to safeguard access to reliable information after a platform withdrew funding from fact-checkers, and by declining a freedom of information request.
• Whether Turustein violated an anonymous online user's rights to freedom of expression and privacy under Articles 19 and 17 ICCPR, by compelling disclosure of his identity and account data, imposing sanctions under an Anti-Doxxing law, and ordering removal of his posts.

• Open to students enrolled in a university pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in Law at the time the competition takes place.
• Students enrolled in, or who have completed, a research degree in law (including a PhD) are not eligible. Anyone with experience as a practising lawyer in any jurisdiction is ineligible.
• Students in another course of study related to law may be eligible at the discretion of the Price Moot Court Administration.
• Past Memorial or Oral Round judges in any round of the competition cannot compete.

These requirements are from the Competition Rules. The organisers state that the 2026-27 Rules will be published in due course without substantive changes, and point teams to last year's Rules in the meantime.

• Each team has at least two and no more than six members, all from the same institution, plus one registered coach.
• An institution may register only one team, unless the Administration grants an exemption. Where a university has constituent colleges, each college may register a team, or the university may field a team drawn from different colleges.
• Students must obtain authorisation from their institution to represent it.
• No one else, including the coach, may help research, write or edit the team's arguments. Coaches may give only general advice on law, research methods and advocacy.

• Each team submits memorials for both the Applicants and the Respondents, in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats.
• The Arguments section of each memorial may not exceed 5,000 words excluding footnotes; 2 points are deducted for every 100 words over the limit.
• Each team may send one clarification request of up to three questions to the Administration by the clarification deadline.
• In oral rounds each team has 45 minutes, including rebuttal or sur-rebuttal. No oralist may take less than 15 or more than 25 minutes for main arguments, and no more than 5 minutes may be reserved for rebuttal.
• The Rules include AI declaration and disclosure requirements; the organisers publish an example disclosure statement for guidance.

A registration fee applies to all teams in the Regional Rounds, and an additional fee applies to teams that qualify for the International Rounds. The organisers say the 2026-27 rates will be announced in due course and point to the current fee page, which lists these 2025-26 rates (subject to change):

• Regional Rounds (per team): GBP 200 for Low Income Countries, GBP 300 for Middle Income Countries and GBP 400 for all others, based on World Bank income classifications. India is classified by the World Bank as a middle-income country.
• International Rounds (per person, qualifying teams only): GBP 150, GBP 250 or GBP 350 per person on the same income tiers, payable for every team member, coach and observer. The fee does not cover travel or accommodation.

For the South Asia Rounds, the registration fee is due by 30 January 2027. Teams that face difficulty paying the fee are invited to contact the organisers as early as possible.

Complete the online team registration form for the South Asia 2026-2027 competition by 23 November 2026. The form collects participants' names, their current academic programmes, the coach, the university and contact details for every team member, and each team names one official point of contact for correspondence with the Administration. After registration each team receives a Team Number, used on memorials and in oral rounds.

Teams from a country not listed in the Eligibility Rules should email the Price Moot Administration to find out which region applies to them.