From March 9 to April 18, 2021, the 62nd “Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition” was launched online. Known as the “Olympic Games” of international law, the global online competition attracted teams from more than 570 law schools representing 60 countries and jurisdictions. After six months of preparation, the competition finally came to an end. The Jessup team of Chongqing University emerged from more than 570 teams in the world and was successfully promoted to the advanced rounds (only 12 teams from Mainland China successfully advanced). At 9:00 p.m. Beijing time on April 18, 2021, the International Law Students Association (“ILSA”) announced the award list of the 2021 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. In the end, Chongqing University won the 1^st Prize Hardy C. Dillard Award Best Combined Memorials, breaking their international best records since Chongqing University began competing in the competition in 2007. After 11 years, a Chinese Team won the prize again!

(Figure 1: CQU Jessup was awarded the 1^st Prize Hardy C. Dillard - Best Combined Memorials Award)

(Figure 2: The Jessup online competition. From the left to the right are CQU Jessupers, Judges and Indonesian Jessupers)

In addition, the outstanding performance of individuals in the team also won the honor of the world's top 100 oralists. Among them, Yongqi Zhan ranked 30th in the preliminary rounds, the best preliminary round result of Mainland Chinese teams. At the same time, Jiacheng Cao ranked 63rd in the preliminary rounds.

(Figure 3: Yongqi Zhan - Top Individual Oralist #30)

(Figure 4: Jiacheng Cao -Top Individual Oralists #63)

This year's Chongqing University Jessup team was led by Associate Professor Qian Hou, Lecturer David J. Devlaeminck, and student coach Jingyi Liu, a 2018 undergraduate of the School of Law. The team members are Dan Yao, Xiling Zhou, and Yongqi Zhan, 2017 undergraduates, as well as Jiacheng Cao and Jianjun Qiu, 2018 undergraduates. During the half year’s preparation, all team members worked hard with the strong support of the school and the college, the guidance of the coaches and care in all walks of life.

(Figure 5: Top – Jingyi Liu, Jianjun Qiu, Xiling Zhou and Jiacheng Cao. Bottom – Yongqi Zhan, David J Devlaeminck, Qian Hou and Dan Yao. Photo taken by Jiechang Zhao)

Chongqing University began participating in the Jessup in 2007, and has participated every year since. While at first the team was a “rookie” in the courtroom, after years of training and passing on knowledge and experience from year-to-year, they advanced to the international competition in Washington DC for the first time in 2017. This Jessup culture has allowed the team to make great strides over the years, qualifying for the international rounds again in 2019. The team is already looking forward to competing next year!