This list of Previous Writing Competitions may be helpful as you make long-range plans. Often, sponsors repeat their contests, and the deadline may fall at the same approximate time of year. If you are interested in a Writing Competition on this list, please verify the topic, prize, and due date with the sponsor. For a list of current Writing Competitions with upcoming deadlines, please click “Currently Active Writing Competitions.”

Previous Competitions

Third-Annual Criminal Record Policy Essay Competition

For our third annual law student writing competition, our goal is to continue to increase awareness of the impact of laws governing the retention and dissemination of criminal records by courts and state agencies, as well as the laws governing the public’s use of such records.


2019-2020 Essay Topics:

How to improve the expungement process in (state of your choice)

When, if ever, should government stop reporting criminal records to the public?

What effects do criminal records have on former offenders ability to re-assimilate?


Sponsored by: Higbee & Associates and The Foundation for Continuing Justice

Sponsor's Website


The Prizes For The Winning Essays Are As Follows:
- First Place: $2,000.00
- Second Place: $1,000.00
- Third Place: $300.00
- $200 Honorable Mention

Due Date: 09/30/2020

2020 Aviation and Space Law Committee Law Student Writing Competition

Submissions should address a recent development in any area of aviation or space law or
discuss an area of aviation or space law where a controversy or disagreement exist.


Sponsored by: Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association

Sponsor's Website


(1) $500 cash prize; (2) up to $1,500 reimbursement for hotel and transportation expenses to attend and speak at the ABA TIPS Aviation and Space Law Annual CLE Seminar in Washington, DC on October 28th and 29th, 2020, and (3) publication in an upcoming edition of the TIPS Aviation and Space Law Committee’s newsletter.

Due Date: 09/09/2020

2020 Warren E. Burger Prize

The American Inns of Court invites judges, lawyers, professors, students, scholars, and other authors to participate in the competition. Please submit an original, unpublished, essay of 10,000 to 20,000 words on a topic of your choice addressing issues of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence.


Sponsored by: American Inns of Court Foundation

Sponsor's Website


Cash prize of $5,000, and the essay will be published in the South Carolina Law Review.
This prize will be presented to the recipient at the American Inns of Court annual Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Due Date: 07/01/2020

Christopher E. Bergin Award for Excellence in Writing

The Christopher E. Bergin Award for Excellence in Writing recognizes superior student writing on unsettled questions in tax law or policy. It is named in honor of the late Christopher E. Bergin, former president and publisher of Tax Analysts and longtime editor of Tax Notes Federal. The award, given annually, epitomizes the qualities that Chris championed.

Submissions should focus on an unsettled question in federal, state, or international tax law or policy.


Sponsored by: Tax Notes Federal

Sponsor's Website


Winning entries are published in Tax Notes’ weekly magazines and will be eligible to receive a 12-month subscription to Tax Notes’ daily and weekly products. Winners’ names and schools will be prominently featured on the Tax Notes website.

Due Date: 06/30/2020

H. Thomas Austern Writing Competition

The H. Thomas Austern Writing Competition is intended to encourage law students interested in the areas of law affecting FDA-regulated industries: food, drugs, medical devices, biologics, dietary supplements, cosmetics, veterinary, cannabis, or tobacco and nicotine products.


Sponsored by: Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI)

Sponsor's Website


Winners are awarded: $750 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third, and a complimentary one-year FDLI membership. Top papers will be considered for publication in the Food and Drug Law Journal.

Due Date: 06/19/2020

Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition

The Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition was established in memory of Michael Greenberg, a former National LGBT Bar Association board member and Philadelphia attorney who died in 1996 from complications of AIDS. This exciting competition is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing outstanding law student scholarship on the legal issues affecting LGBTQ+ persons. The winning article is considered for publication each year in the Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality: A Review of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Lawthe first student-edited law review devoted to the intersection of LGBTQ+ issues and the law in the United States.


Sponsored by: National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation

Sponsor's Website


The 2020 winner and first runner-up will be awarded free registration for the Annual Lavender Law® Conference and Career Fair where they will be officially recognized and presented with a congratulatory award certificate.

The winner will also receive:

- A $500 cash prize
- Consideration for publication in the Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality
- Free hotel stay at our venue for the Conference
- Travel assistance for the Conference

Due Date: 05/14/2020

Smith-Doheny Legal Ethics Writing Competition

Any current student at an American or Canadian law school may submit an essay (minimum of ten pages and maximum of fifty pages) on any legal ethics topic. The essays that are submitted to the competition will be judged on their clarity, coherence, creativity, insight, and mastery of rules and cases relevant to the topic of the essay in question.


Sponsored by: Notre Dame Law School

Sponsor's Website


$2,500 prize

Due Date: 04/24/2020

National Law Review 2019-2020 Law Student Writing Competition

The National Law Review (NLR) consolidates practice-oriented legal analysis from a variety of sources for easy access by lawyers, paralegals, law students, business executives, insurance professionals, accountants, compliance officers, human resource managers, and other professionals who wish to better understand specific legal issues relevant to their work.

The NLR Law Student Writing Competition offers law students the opportunity to submit articles for publication consideration on the NLR Web site.


Sponsored by: National Law Review

Sponsor's Website


Winning submissions will be published according to specified dates.

Entries will be judged and the top two to four articles chosen will be published on the NLR website.

Each winning article will be displayed accompanied by the student’s photo, biography, contact information, law school logo, and any copyright disclosure.

All winning articles will remain in the NLR database for two years (subject to earlier removal upon request of the law school).

In addition, the NLR sends links to targeted articles to specific professional groups via e-mail. The NLR also posts links to selected articles on the “Legal Issues” or “Research” sections of various professional organizations’ Web sites. (NLR, at its sole discretion, may distribute any winning entry in such a manner, but does not make any such guarantees nor does NLR represent that this is part of the prize package.)

Due Date: 03/31/2020

22nd Annual Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Competition

The ELI Writing Competition challenges students to identify, research, and write an essay with a proposed solution on a compelling legal issue confronting the music industry. A nationwide panel of music law experts will judge the papers in a blind process to select a winner and two runners-up. This contest is open to Juris Doctorate (JD) and master of laws (LLM) candidates currently enrolled at an ABA-accredited law school.


Sponsored by: Recording Academy & ABA Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries

Sponsor's Website


Top Prize:
- $10,000 scholarship
- Two tickets to and recognition onstage at the Entertainment Law Initiative Event & Scholarship Presentation
- Two tickets to the MusiCares Person of the Year gala on Jan. 24, 2020
- Two tickets to the GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 26, 2020
- Round-trip airfare to Los Angeles and hotel accommodations for two to attend these events

Two Runners-Up will recieve:
- $2,500 scholarship

Due Date: 01/02/2020

Companion Animal Law Writing Contest

This year’s contest focuses on two questions, the first one is state legislature’s animal control and enforcement laws’ bond-for-care provisions, and the second one is on fraudulent claims of emotional support and service animals. Open to all students enrolled at ABA-accredited law schools in the US.


Sponsored by: American Kennel Club

Sponsor's Website


First Prize: $2,500
Second Prize: $500

Due Date: 11/30/2019

Any current issue involving labor or employment law. The scope of permissible topics for the article is broad.

All law school students.


Sponsored by: DR. EMANUEL STEIN AND KENNETH STEIN MEMORIAL LAW STUDENT WRITING COMPETITION

Sponsor's Website


First Prize $3,000
Second Prize $2,000
Third Prize $1,000.

Due Date: 10/01/2019

The Competition is open to all law students in good standing and attending an ABA accredited law school in 2018. The Competition is open to all law students in good standing and attending an ABA accredited law school in 2018.

 


Sponsored by: ABA Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


$2,000
Travel expenses and registration to attend the next fall meeting of the ABA Forum on Construction Law (where a first prize plaque will be presented)
A one-year membership in the Forum and recognition in both the Forum newsletter, Under Construction, and on the Forum's website.

Due Date: 07/09/2019

Submitted papers must focus primarily upon technical or policy-oriented tax issues relating to any type of existing or proposed U.S. federal or state tax or U.S. federal or state taxation system (including topics relating to tax practice ethical and professional responsibility matters).


Sponsored by: The Theodore Tannenwald, Jr. Foundation for Excellence in Tax Scholarship and The American College of Tax Counsel

Sponsor's Website


Winning paper $5,000
First runner-up $2,500
Second runner-up $1,500

Due Date: 07/08/2019

Submitted papers must focus primarily upon technical or policy-oriented tax issues relating to any type of existing or proposed U.S. federal or state tax or U.S. federal or state taxation system (including topics relating to tax practice ethical and professional responsibility matters).

The Competition is open to law students, undergraduate (J.D.) or graduate (L.L.M. or S.J.D.), enrolled full or part-time in a U.S. law school during the 2018/19 academic year


Sponsored by: The Theodore Tannenwald Jr. Foundation for Excellence in Tax Scholarship

Sponsor's Website


Winning paper $5,000
First runner-up $2,500
Second runner-up $1,500

Due Date: 07/08/2019

Want to write an AMICI CURIAE for Submission to the US SUPREME COURT? The winner WILL BE SUBMITTED to the US SUPREME COURT for review. AT THE NEW YORK MARRIOTT TIMES SQUARE.

With Special Guests:

STEPHEN B. KAUFMAN American University

HONORABLE J. BARONE Harvard Law
JOHN DECOLATOR Pace Law

 


Sponsored by: St. John's University School of Law Prof. Angelique Pescque, Esq.

Sponsor's Website


N/A

Due Date: 07/08/2019

The American Inns of Court invites judges, lawyers, professors, students, scholars, and other authors to participate in the competition. please submit an original, unpublished, essay of 10,000 to 20,000 words on a topic of your choice addressing issues of professionalism, ethics, civility, and excellence.


Sponsored by: The 2019 Warren E. Burger Prize

Sponsor's Website


$5,000
Publication in the South Carolina Law Review
The prize will be presented to the recipient at the American Inns of Court annual Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States.

Due Date: 07/01/2019

A scholarly writing competition that honors an outstanding article or book on a topic exploring the tension between civil liberties and national security in contemporary American Society.

The article or book must be in draft form or have been published within one year prior to the July 1 deadline. As a condition of accepting the award, the winner will present his or her work at Chicago-Kent. All reasonable expenses will be paid.


Sponsored by: 2019 Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer

Sponsor's Website


$10,000

Due Date: 07/01/2019

The contest is open to students who, on the date the entry is submitted, attend and are in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school within the United States and its possessions. Membership in the Criminal Justice Section is not a requirement. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age and legal permanent residents or citizens of the United States. Employees, officers, directors of the ABA and members of their immediate families are not eligible,

Topic: The Use of Drones by Law Enforcement - How should drones enhance public safety, how should drones be regulated, and what role does the Fourth Amendment Play?


Sponsored by: William W. Greenhalgh Student Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


$2,500

Due Date: 07/01/2019

The Robert T. Matsui Annual Writing Competition was established by AEF in 2005 to honor the late Congressman Robert T. Matsui and his many accomplishments.  Through this Writing Competition, AEF seeks to encourage legal scholarship on issues of importance to the Asian Pacific American community.

The Competition is open to all law students and anyone who graduated from law school within the last five years.


Sponsored by: Matsui Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


$6,000, plus, the winning entry will be published by the UCLA Asian Pacific American Law Journal (APALJ)

Due Date: 07/01/2019

Papers should address a current topic of general interest in a legal area covered by the Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section. The section covers specific industries that provide certain important, in some cases, essential, services to the general public.

This competition is open to law school students who, at the time of entry, (1) are in good standing during the academic year of the Competition, (2) currently attending an ABA-accredited law school within the United States and its possessions, (3) are U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident and (4) are at least 21 years old.


Sponsored by: AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGULATED INDUSTRIES SECTION K. William Kolbe Law Student Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


$2,500, a free membership in the section for one (1) year after admission to the bar, and coach-seat airfare and standard hotel accommodations to attend the Section's Fall 2019 Council Group Meeting.

Due Date: 06/30/2019

Students are encouraged to submit articles on a subject relating to the protection of intellectual property.

The article must have been written solely by a student or students either in full-time attendance at a law school (day or evening) or prepared in connection with a law school course. The article must be submitted to the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

Submit paper: American intellectual Property Law Association, Watson Award Competition, watsonaward@aipla.org


Sponsored by: Robert C. Watson Award

Sponsor's Website


The winner will receive reasonable expense reimbursement to attend the AIPLA Annual Meeting, October 24 – 26, 2019 in Washington DC, to receive their award.

Due Date: 06/28/2019

This competition is open to any law student in good standing (full-time or part-time) who is currently enrolled at the time of submission or was a student within the past 90-day period prior to submission as a J.D. or LL.M. candidate in an ABA-accredited law school within the United States or its possessions.

The paper must relate to the area of trusts and estates, broadly defined.

Any one or more of the following topics are appropriate for discussion:

  • Business Planning
  • Charitable Planning
  • Elder Law
  • Employee Benefits
  • Fiduciary Accounting
  • Fiduciary Administration
  • Fiduciary Income Taxation
  • Fiduciary Litigation
  • Estate Planning and Drafting
  • Professional Responsibility
  • Substantive Laws for the Gratuitous Transmission of Property
  • Wealth Transfer Taxation (Estate, Gift and GST Tax)


Sponsored by: Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


1st Prize
A Full Tuition Scholarship to the Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning at the University of Miami School of Law for the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 academic year (candidates must apply and be admitted as full-time students to be considered for the scholarship), $5,000 and publication in the ACTEC Law Journal.

2nd Prize
$3,000, online publication on ACTEC’s website, and possible publication in the ACTEC Law Journal.

3rd Prize
$1,000, online publication on ACTEC’s website, and possible publication in the ACTEC Law Journal.

Due Date: 06/17/2019

ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law Writing Competition

Entries should address aspects of public or private sector labor and/or employment law relevant to the American labor and employment bar. Students are encouraged to discuss novel issues, innovative ideas, or fresh perspectives on the following areas affecting labor and employment in the U.S. and/or abroad that would be noteworthy to the U.S.: a public policy issue; practical implications of a leading case or doctrine; a statute or the need for statutory modification; or a common law doctrine. Articles may address U.S. law, international law of relevance to U.S. labor and employment attorneys, or how a legal topic is treated in states across the country.

This competition is open to articles written while the author is an active student at an accredited law school in the United States. Authors may not have graduated from law school prior to December 1, 2018. Graduate students in law school (LL.M candidates) are not eligible.

 


Sponsored by: The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Annual Law Student Writing Competition for 2018-2019

Sponsor's Website


First Place: $3000 The firstplace winning article may be selected for publication in the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law.
Second Place: $1000
Third Place: $500

Due Date: 06/15/2019

ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law Writing Competition

Entries should address aspects of public or private sector labor and/or employment law relevant to the American labor and employment bar. Students are encouraged to discuss novel issues, innovative ideas, or fresh perspectives on the following areas affecting labor and employment in the U.S. and/or abroad that would be noteworthy to the U.S.: a public policy issue; practical implications of a leading case or doctrine; a statute or the need for statutory modification; or a common law doctrine. Articles may address U.S. law, international law of relevance to U.S. labor and employment attorneys, or how a legal topic is treated in states across the country.

This competition is open to articles written while the author is an active student at an accredited law school in the United States. Authors may not have graduated from law school prior to December 1, 2018. Graduate students in law school (LL.M candidates) are not eligible.

 


Sponsored by: The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Annual Law Student Writing Competition for 2018-2019

Sponsor's Website


First Place: $3000 The firstplace winning article may be selected for publication in the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law.
Second Place: $1000
Third Place: $500

Due Date: 06/15/2019

Papers should provide an in depth analysis of a current legal or regulatory issue concerning FDA regulated industries: food, drugs, animal drugs, biologics, cosmetics, diagnostics, dietary supplements, medical devices or tobacco.

Students currently enrolled in a JD Program at any of the nation’s ABA-accredited law schools or a 2018-2019 academic year graduate are eligible to participate.


Sponsored by: 2019 Austern Writing Competition

Sponsor's Website


$750 for first place
$500 for second
$250 for third, and a complimentary one-year FDLI membership.

Due Date: 06/10/2019

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