Criteria & Judges

Selection Criteria

Executive Summary

PILnet will select eight finalist teams based on the following criteria:

Innovative aspects of the project;
How the law is used and the strength of legal aspects in the project;
The project’s relevance to the theme;
The quality of problem analysis; and
The practicality of the project.

Evaluation Criteria

Project Proposal

The project proposals and the presentation at the Pitching Event will be evaluated by an independent group of judges based on the following criteria:

1. Project Concept & Design (Innovation) 30%

The Law for Change Student Competition invites proposals that use law to address social justice issues in Hong Kong today. Proposals should be innovative, and fill service gaps or bring added value to existing services. Proposals must be relevant to the theme. A strong project concept and design should be developed using well-grounded research that includes first hand data collection and demonstrate a good understanding of the context and the target end user(s). It should also generate enthusiasm and support.

A strong project will have a solid legal component and also consider cultural, economic, social, structural, and any other relevant aspects of the social justice issue to be addressed by the proposed project.

2. Project Planning & Feasibility 30%

Objectives stated in the proposals should be measurable and achievable. A strong proposal will include a clear articulation of how project activities will relate to the overall objectives and address specific aspects of the social justice issue stated in the proposal. Projects proposed should be feasible to be implemented within a reasonable timeline and a realistic scope. The description of each activity should be clear, well-developed and detailed, and show how the activity will engage relevant stakeholders. Proposals should identify the group(s) most adversely affected by the social justice issue selected, end user(s), the NGO partner(s) and other key stakeholders, and selection criteria for participants, and describe the activity and extent of engagement with each type of stakeholders.

3. Sustainability & Multiplier Effect 15%

Proposals should detail how elements of the project will be self-sustainable beyond the life of the initial budget and if there is any opportunity for a “multiplier effect” to be built into the project. A strong proposal should also state and demonstrate the team’s capacity and commitment to carry the project forward.

4. Cost Effectiveness 5%

A strong proposal will clearly demonstrate cost-effectiveness, and include examples of leveraging institutional in-kind support and other resources, such as lawyer pro bono services. Projects should have a realistic scope that is in line with the amount of the seed grant to be provided.

5. Project Monitoring & Evaluation 10%

Proposals should include a description of how the project’s progress and impact will be monitored and evaluated, i.e. how impact will be measured to determine if the project’s objectives have been achieved. Proposals should state who will be responsible for monitoring and evaluation.

6. Presentation 10%

Students will also be judged on their performance at the Pitching Event in January 2021 when they present their respective projects. Judges will consider the clarity of presentation, presentation skills and the quality of any visual aids and handouts that are used or provided during the presentation. There are no set rules on how the presentation should be done and students are encouraged to be creative and to look beyond the usual PowerPoint presentation.

Judging Panel

Azan Marwah

Azan Marwah is a barrister in private practice. His work covers a broad spectrum of civil litigation and disputes, specializing in matters that include a cross-border, public, or administrative law element. His experience extends to work raising issues from international sale of goods, cross-border fraud, taxation, employment, and land use planning. Azan is also an accredited mediator and published expert in family and child law, advising a number of charitable organizations and representing parties before the family courts. Azan is regularly engaged to draft Private Members’ Bills. He has advised on amendments to legislation in a wide variety of areas including regulatory, environmental, criminal, child protection, and family law. He regularly advises commercial in-house counsel, as well as charitable and non-profit organisations on the legislative process. Azan is the co-founder of the Hong Kong Public Interest Law Group and the Hong Kong Public Interest Law Conference, and the founding legal adviser to Hong Kong Marriage Equality.

Chan-yau Chong

Chan-yau Chong graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in English Studies and Psychology. He later obtained a Master’s Degree in Information System from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is currently the President of the Hong Kong Blind Union, a board member of the Dialogue in the Dark HK Foundation, a member of the Board of Directors of CarbonCare Asia, the Co-founder and CEO of CarbonCare InnoLab, and the Director of the English Learning Service Provider, EL Education. He has served as an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong Government, Executive Director of Oxfam Hong Kong, and Director of the HKU Student Development of the Centre for Development and Resources for Students. He received one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Awards in 1991, an MBE in 1995, the Poverty Alleviation Award from the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation in 2004, one of the Leader of the Year Awards 2011 (Community/Public Affairs Category) from the Sing Tao News Corporation, the University of Hong Kong Honorary University Fellowships in 2012 and the Compassion Award from HK & Macau Taiwanese Charity Fund in 2017.

Tracy Ng

Tracy Ng is Chief Executive of the Fullness Social Enterprises Society (FSES), a young non-government organisation (NGO) with the mission to promote social entrepreneurship development and city transformation in Hong Kong for societal betterment through a team of pracademic and knowledge volunteers. She is currently a part-time lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the HKUSPACE, and also a voluntary director of the social enterprise Fullness Salon. She has co-authored a number of FSES publications and provided professional training and coaching services on social entrepreneurship and project management to various NGOs and social enterprises. Prior to Tracy’s time in the NGO sector, she had over 20 years’ industrial experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector as a managing consultant, project director, and project manager serving the government, NGOs, and multinational corporations’ mega projects. In recent years, Tracy has been focusing on nurturing youth in social entrepreneurship development and has ledFSES to become the latest intermediary (the Innovator Farm) of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) that helps build up the ecosystem for nurturing social entrepreneurs and developing and implementing innovative projects.

2020 Competition

Theme Eligibility & Requirements Timeline Criteria & Judges