Student Mock Trial Competition

AACP Article

2024 Mock Trial Competition

Four (4) school/college teams will be selected as semi-finalists competing virtually in semi-final mock trial rounds. Semi-final rounds will take place virtually on dates between May 15th – June 10, 2024 (to be announced after semi-finalist teams are identified).  Based on the results of the semi-final rounds, the top two teams advance as finalists to compete in an in-person mock trial competition (courtroom-style debate) during the 2024  AACP Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.  Final Mock -Trial Competition will be on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at the AACP Annual Meeting in Boston (exact time and room to be announced). The winning team will receive a prize of $500, courtesy of the CPD Section. The names of the two finalist teams will be recognized below with those of the mock-trial competition in prior years.

Call for Mock Competition Teams and Submission of Applications

If your institution is interested in having your student pharmacists participate as a team representing your program, please view the details on the following submission form:

Application Deadline: April 15, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. HST

Submit Here!

Background

The mock trial project (MTP), first implemented in 2015 at one institution, has evolved into collaboration across two pharmacy programs over the past 9 years, in addition to having been published and presented in several conferences and meetings. The mock trial, as a teaching innovation, also gained AACP recognition in winning the Honorable Mention for Innovations in Teaching Competition in 2017 for the development and implementation of the mock trial project in its first two iterations (2015-2016). This innovative teaching and learning strategy reinforces evidence-based practice skills and affective domain competencies in the CAPE 2013 Outcomes and ACPE Standards 2016. 

Activity

This self-directed team activity requires the application of knowledge (literature evaluation; research design and critique; evidence-based practice and decision-making), skills (critical thinking; communication; debate; advocacy), and attitudes (collaboration; professionalism; leadership; self-awareness) gained from the PharmD curriculum and co-curriculum. Student teams from participating pharmacy programs are assigned a controversial topic in pharmacy practice, pharmacotherapy, healthcare, and/or public health, that impacts the pharmacy profession. 

Letter of Intent & Application Process 

AACP seeks letters of intent and application packages from student teams across the AACP member programs for the virtual mock trial (VMT) competitions. A strategic goal aims to incorporate and accommodate many pharmacy programs across the academy and country to submit a letter of intent followed by a team application to participate in the semi-finalist mock-trial competition virtually between May 15th – June 10th, 2024 (dates and times to be announced after semi-finalists are identified. The top two teams (finalists) will compete in person in the final mock trial round at the AACP Annual Meeting in July 2024. 

For the semi-final rounds, the four semi-finalists will be randomly paired to compete in each of two virtual mock trial debates on an assigned topic. Designation as proponent (“Petitioner”) or opponent (“Respondent”) will also be randomly decided. Schools/Colleges of Pharmacy Student teams are challenged to research, evaluate, and debate their respective positions (“for” or “against”) on the assigned topic during the virtual mock- trial. Through collaboration, the teams collect, critique, and select the best evidence and develop the strongest arguments to support their team position (“for” or “against”) on the specified mock trial issue. The virtual mock trial is enacted as if in a virtual courtroom before a panel of judges (AACP faculty to be recruited from non-participant programs to preserve objectivity). 
 

2023 Inaugural Mock Trial Competition Finalists

First Place: Virginia Commonwealth University
Second Place: Temple University

2022 Inaugural Mock Trial Competition Finalists

First Place: West Virginia University
Second Place: Chapman University