Category: Writing Competition

Announcing the 2022-2023 American Indian Law Review National Writing Competition

This year’s American Indian Law Review national writing competition is now welcoming papers from students at accredited law schools in the United States and Canada.  Papers will be accepted on any legal issue specifically concerning American Indians or other indigenous peoples.  Three cash prizes will be awarded: $1,500 for first place, $750 for second place, and $400 for third place.  Each of the three winning authors will also be awarded an eBook copy of Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, provided by LexisNexis.

The deadline for entries is Tuesday, February 28, 2023, at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Sponsored by the University of Oklahoma College of Law, the American Indian Law Review has proudly served Native and legal communities since 1973.  Each year at this time we encourage law students nationwide to participate in this, the longest-running competition of its kind.  Papers will be judged by a panel of Indian law scholars and by the editors of the Review.

For further information on eligibility, entry requirements, and judging criteria, see the attached PDF rules sheet or the AILR writing competition website at https://law.ou.edu/ailr/wc.

AILR 2022-2023 National Writing Competition rules sheet

2017-2018 Henry L. Diamond Constitutional Environmental Law Writing Competition

The deadline for the 2017-2018 Henry L. Diamond Constitutional Environmental Law Writing Competition is fast approaching! Entries must be received no later than 11:59 PM ET on Monday, April 9, 2018.

Please direct entries (and any questions) to Lovinia Reynolds mailto:reynolds@eli.org. An email will be sent to confirm entry receipt.

Organized by ELI with funding from Beveridge & Diamond, this annual competition invites law students from across the country to submit papers exploring current issues of constitutional environmental law. Our goal is to recognize students who have advanced the state of scholarship through original analysis of cutting-edge topics in this area. The winner receives a $2000 cash prize, public recognition, an offer of publication in ELI’s flagship journal, the Environmental Law Reporter (ELR), and a one-year individual membership to ELI. 

An updated copy of the 2017-18 competition notice.  For more about the competition and past winners, please visit our website. 

Student Writing Competition – Deadline June 5, 2017

34th ANNUAL SMITH-BABCOCK-WILLIAMS

STUDENT WRITING COMPETITION

The Planning & Law Division of the American Planning Association announces its 34th Annual Smith- Babcock-Williams Student Writing Competition. The winning entry in the competition will be awarded a prize of $2,000 and will be submitted for publication in The Urban Lawyer, the law journal of the American Bar Association’s Section of State & Local Government Law. The Second Place paper will receive a prize of $400 and one Honorable Mention prize of $100 will also be awarded.

RULES
  • Eligibility. The competition is open to law students at ABA accredited law schools and planning students at schools listed in the current Guide to Undergraduate and Graduate Education in Urban and Regional Planning who are enrolled in or who will complete a program of study leading to the J.D., LL.B., Masters or Ph.D. degree during the 2016-2017 academic year. All entries must be the work of an individual, jointly-authored entries will not be considered. Entries may have been written for another purpose within the last year — e.g., a paper submitted for a course or internship — but must not have been previously published.
  • Subject Matter. Entries should demonstrate original thought on a question of significance in either city planning or associated areas of law (e.g., land use, local government or environmental law) and will be evaluated based on: (1) originality; (2) contribution to the understanding or development of the fields of planning and law; (3) quality of scholarship; and (4) quality and organization of writing.
  • Publication. As a condition of publication, the author grants to the American Bar Association the following rights: 1) the exclusive right of first publication of the Work throughout the world as part of the publication The Urban Lawyer; 2) the nonexclusive right to reprint the Work whenever necessary and to license use of the Work, or any part thereof, in any medium or form of communication in the English language, to others; and 3) the right to use the Work, or any part thereof, in any other publication produced by the American Bar Association. The author shall reserve all exclusive rights not specifically granted to the American Bar Association and will have the rights not specifically granted to the American Bar Association and will have the rights, after the Work has been published, to print the Work in any publication, provided that the author included in the publication the proper credit to the American Bar Association for prior publication of the work.
  • Directions for Entries. Entries shall not exceed forty-five (45) pages with a 1″ margin on all-sides. Text should be double-spaced in a minimum ten-point pitch. Manuscripts should follow the stylistic guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style (latest edition) published by the University of Chicago Press. All citations should be footnoted and should conform to A Uniform System of Citation (latest edition) published by the Harvard Law Review Association (the Blue Book).
  • Submission of Entries. To enter the competition, send five (5) copies of your entry, postmarked no later than June 5, 2017, to Professor Alan Weinstein at the address below. Each copy must have two title pages: the first title page should contain the title of the entry, the name/address/e-mail of the student, and identify the student’s school and date of graduation; the second title page should contain only the title of the entry. Professor Alan Weinstein Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Cleveland State University 2121 Euclid Avenue, LB 138, Cleveland, Ohio 44115-2214

 

 

2016 HOWARD C. SCHWAB MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST SECTION OF FAMILY LAW

Each year, the American Bar Association Section of Family Law conducts an essay contest to encourage law students to think about current issues in family law, and to encourage participation in the Section of Family Law. Students may write on any aspect of family law. The contest is open to second and third-year full-time J.D. students (and second through fourth-year part-time J.D. students) of all ABA-approved law schools, and to first year J.D. students where family law is taught as part of the first year curriculum.

Winning entries receive the following: Monetary prize, certificate of recognition, consideration of essay’s publication in Family Law Quarterly and the Section website, letter to law school dean regarding the achievement, and one year complimentary membership to the Section. To enter, one must submit an entry form by April 15, 2016. Essays are due April 29, 2016.

More information, including our downloadable entry form, can be found on our website. You may also contact ABA Section of Family Law Program Assistant, Samantha Schooley at samantha.schooley@americanbar.org or 312.988.5145 for additional information and assistance.