Previous Writing Competitions
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 |
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The Amiercan Constitution Society (ACS) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School ACS Chapter host an annual national student writing competition in honor of Constance Baker Motley's legacy.? ACS welcomes all student papers furthering and promoting a progressive vision of the Constitution, law, and public policy.? Entrants are encouraged to view this topic broadly, and ACS welcomes submissions in a variety of substantive areas.? Examples of possible topics include:? civil legal aid, civil liberties, consumer rights, criminal justice, disability rights, education, freedom of speech, immigration, indigent defense, human rights, money in politics (including judicial elections), labor law, LGBT rights, privacy, protection of health, safety and the environment, racial equality, religion, Second Amendment and guns, separation of powers and federalism, women's reproductive rights and reproductive freedom, and voting and political process.
Due Date: 2/12/2016 |
Students enrolled in any law school anywhere in the world as of December 2016 and seeking a first degree in law, such as a J.D., LL.B. or equivalent, are eligible to submit an article for consideration in the competition.? The general subject is any topic related to energy development. ?This includes, for example, topics concerning oil and gas law, alternative energy resources, energy regulation, and environmental regulation of the energy industries. The article can be any work prepared by the student while enrolled in law school and can include prior works prepared for a law journal or a law school course, so long as the submitted version complies with the submission guidelines.? The Hartrick Scholar Judging Committee will select one or more outstanding submissions that they deem worthy of recognition. ?
Due Date: 12/9/2016 |
To be considered for the scholarship, you must submit a 1,000- to 2,500-word blog-style article on the use of expert witnesses in litigation.
Due Date: 12/31/2016 |
Open to J.D. studernts? Award for the best legal blog post on any topic in litigation involving expert witnesses.? To win, the article has to be logically rigorous and substantive, as well as engaging and entertaining.? Ideally, lay people should be able to understand and enjoy the article, while lawyers should find it useful and insightful. ?
Due Date: 12/31/2016 |
The 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition and put control over alcohol regulation directly in the hands of the states.? Though each state's alcohol control policies are unique, they all include distinct regulations for different types of alcohol.? Why are various types of alcohol regulated in different ways?? Should they be?
Due Date: 12/2/2016 |
Each Scholarship candidate must write an original paper on any legal issue of current interest in the area of entertainment, art or sports law.? The competition is open to both J.D. and LL.M. candidates attending eligible law schools.? Students may submit their papers to law journals or other school publications, simultaneously.? In addition, papers previously submitted and published in law journals or other school publications are also eligible for submission to the Scholarship Committee.? All papers should be submitted to Professor Sonya G. Bonneau, the designated faculty member for Georgetown Law.? The three (3) best papers will be forwarded to the Scholarship Committee.? The Scholarship Committee will then select the Scholarship recipient(s).? Payment of Scholarship funds will be made by EASL/BMI to the law school of the winner, to be credited against the winner's account. ?
Due Date: 12/12/2016 |
Awards to be presented for (a) the best book, (b) the best publishable article, book chapter, or substantial book review and/or (c) the best student note or comment on a topic dealing with consumer financial services law.? The awards include cash payments of $2,500, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, a Certificate of Recognition from the College and travel expenses to attend the Spring 2017 meeting of the College.? In any given year, depending on submissions, all three awards, or fewer, may be made. Eligible entries will address a topic on consumer financial services, but not securities regulation, insurance, or the safety-and-soundness aspects of banking regulation.? Works on subjects within these (or other) areas, however, will be considered if they bear directly on consumer financial services. Entries must have been written or published between November 15, 2015, and December 1, 2016.
Due Date: 12/1/2016 |
Submitted entries must focus primarily on one or more aspects of patent quality.? Examples of potential topics incude:? The Impact of Legislation, Changes to the Patent Examination Process for Improving the Quality of Issued Patents, Analysis of Proposed Methods of Measuring Patent Quality, and the Importance of Patent Quality for Supporting Innovation and Technological Development.
Due Date: 11/7/2016 |
Any subject in the field of securities law.? Students must be enrolled in an accredited law school in the United States for the Fall 2016 semester.? Unpublished papers, papers published in any law journal or other publication during calendar year 2016, and papers scheduled for publication in 2016 or 2017 are eligible for submission.? Co-authored papers are not eligible. ?
Due Date: 11/12/2016 |
Law students (including J.D., LL.M., Ph.D. and S.J.D. candidates) are invited to submit an article concerning any area of public or private international law or practice.? Faculty members are ineligible to participate.? All submissions will be reviewd by a committee of attorneys practicing international law, and a winner will be chosen based on a variety of factors, including significance and timeliness of the subject matter, thoroughness of research and analysis, and clarity of writing style.
Due Date: 11/11/2016 |
The ELI Writing Competition invites students to write a maximum 3,000-word paper with a proposed solution on a compelling legal topic facing the music industry today.?
Due Date: 1/6/2016 |
ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law Writing CompetitionEntries 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 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.? Papers limited to the law of a single state will not be considered.? Papers must be analytical in nature, not merely a summary of the law.? Students must present and discuss competing points of vew with respect to the issue addressed and must distinguish their conclusions from opposing positions with sound logic and reference to multiple primary and secondary sources.? Students are discouraged from writing articles about a recent Supreme Court decision or a case pending before the Supreme Court unless the article focuses upon case law or statutory developments subsequent to the Supreme Court's decisions.
Due Date: 06/15/2016 |
Law students (which include J.D., L.L.M., Ph.D., and S.J.D. candidates) are invited to submit to the Committee on Animals and the Law an article concerning any area of Animal Law.? This competition seeks to foster legal scholarship among law studeents in the area of animals and the law.? All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of attorneys and other professionals practicing or otherwise involved in animal law.
Due Date: 7/31/2015 |
Open to J.D., L.L.M. and S.J.D. students, enrolled full or part-time in a U.S. law school.? Each submitted paper must be sponsored by a law school professor.? Submitted papers must focus prinmarily upon technical or policy-oriented tax issues related 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).?? ?
Due Date: 7/1/2015 |
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.
Due Date: 7/1/2015 |
Entries may address any aspect of public or private sector labor and/or employment law relevant to the American labor and employment bar.? Students are encouraged to discuss 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, but papers limited to the law of a single state will not be considered.? Papers must be analytical in nature, not merely a summary of the law.? Students must present and discuss competing points of view with sound logic and reference to multiple sources.
Due Date: 5/15/2015 |
Entrants should submit an essay, article or comment on an issue concerning Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. ?
Due Date: 4/30/2015 |
Any legal ethics topic.
Due Date: 4/24/2015 |
The DISH "Best in Class" eDiscovery Legal Research and Writing Competition encourages law students to develop a thorough understanding of the evolution and practice of Information Governance and Discovery in civil litigation. The competition is the only one of its kind designed to challenge law students to explore the evolving issues of document management, electronically stored information, and ever-expanding technology, along with their application to the law. For the 2015 competition, submissions must address the following topic:? Courts are increasingly expecting "transparency" and "cooperation" among counsel during the discovery phase in civil litigation, although we still expect lawyers to be advocates who are bound by strict confidentiality parameters regarding the secrecy of client confidences and work product protected by privilege.? Identify the issues that you see impacted by these competing policy interests and provide your analysis and suggestions on how lawyers should navigate the civil discovery process to address these concerns.? The judges are looking for creativity and support for arguments, as well as excellent writing and reasoning.
Due Date: 4/13/2015 |
The article must have a publication date of the previous year, even if it actually printed at a later date.? The article may have appeared in any publication printed at your law school, including law reviews and journals, and may be a note, a comment, or an article. The subject of the article can be devoted to any legal topic.? The length of the article is not limited. Only one article may be submitted on behalf of a law school. Only deans or their designees may nominate an applicant. At least one author or coauthor must have been enrolled in the calendar year when the article was published. Coauthors are permitted.? Please provide the name, address, telephone number, fax and email of each contributing author, The completed nomination form, together with a copy of the article, should be submitted online at www.burtonawards.com.? If mailed, the nomination form must still be filled out online and two hard copies must be sent. Please note:? A 150-word narrative biographical summary, written in the third person, and a high resolution photo of each nominee must be submitted to academiccommittee@burtonawards.com at the time of the application. www.burtonawards.com ? ?
Due Date: 3/20/2015 |
Papers should provide an in-depth analysis of one of the two following topics:? 1.? Beginning March 2015, retailers in the City of Chicago may offer for sale only those dogs, cats or rabbits that the retailer has obtained from animal control centers, animal care facilities, government-operated shelters, humane societies or rescue organizations.? Provde a constitutional analysis of the ordinance (Section 4-384-015, Municipal? Code of Chicago). OR 2.? Los Angeles County has adopted an ordinance requiring all cats and dogs to be spayed or neutered after a certain age, with a few specific exemptions allowed.? Provide a constitutional analysis of the ordinance (Section 10.08.155, Los Angeles County Code). These topics were chosen for their timeliness and potential for development of a scholarly constitutional analysis. ?
Due Date: 2/15/2015 |
The Human Rights Essay Award is an annual competition sponsored by the Academy and seeks to stimulate the production of scholarly work in international human rights law.? Participants have the flexibility to choose any subject related to the assigned topic:? Transitional Justice, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.? The essay has to be a legal article. The Academy will grant two awards:? one for the best article in English and one for the best article in Spanish.
Due Date: 2/1/2015 |
Any topic in litigation involving expert witnesses.? To win, article not only has to be logically rigorous and substantive, it also needs to be engaging, entertaining, and eye-catching.? Ideally, lay people should be able to understand and enjoy the article, while lawyers should fine it useful and insightful. ?
Due Date: 12/31/2015 |
Papers will be accepted on any issue concerning American Indian Law or indigenous peoples. However, topics recently published in the American Indian Law Review will not be favored.
Due Date: 1/30/2015 |
Judges will consider papers on any topic relating to the law governing the workplace, such as employment law, labor law, employee benefits, or employment discrimination.? Entries must be the law student author's own work and must not be submitted for publication elsewhere.? Authors must have completed or be currently taking course work in employment or labor law and must be enrolled in an accredited law school during the Fall 2014 semester.? Only the first two submissions per law school will be accepted as entries for consideration.
Due Date: 1/20/2015 |
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