Writing Competition

The Institute conducts an annual student writing competition in partnership with the Georgetown Law Technology Review.

The 2024 writing competition is now open. Students are invited to submit papers that provide analysis or insights on issues at the intersection of technology law and policy. Example topics could include artificial intelligence, antitrust and consumer protection, biotechnology, computer crime, cybersecurity, digital platform regulation, intellectual privacy, international trade, and social justice applications of technology.

Papers will be judged by a fully-blind panel of judges. The author(s) of the first place paper will be awarded $2,000; the author(s) of the second place paper will be awarded $500.

Submission requirements

Please submit papers via email to techinstitute@law.georgetown.edu. Submissions are due on June 17, 2024.

Papers will be accepted from students enrolled at any ABA-accredited law school in the United States during the 2023-2024 academic year. The paper must be the author’s own work, although students may incorporate feedback received as part of an academic course or supervised writing project. The paper must not have been published or committed for publication in another journal; the Georgetown Law Technology Review must have the first right of publication for any winning essay. Publication of winning papers in the Georgetown Law Technology Review is not guaranteed, and is up to the discretion of the editorial board.

Papers will be evaluated based on thoroughness of research and analysis, relevance to the competition topic, relevance to current legal and/or public policy debates, originality of thought, and clarity of expression.

Papers should be 3000-8000 words long (not including footnotes) and be submitted in Times New Roman size 12 font, single spaced. Footnotes must conform to the 20th edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Papers must be in English.

The fine print

The judges’ decisions are final.
Winners may be required to submit a completed W-9, affidavit of eligibility, tax acknowledgment, and liability release for tax purposes as a condition to receiving the cash prize. All forms must be completed and returned via email within 14 days of receipt, or prizes will be considered forfeited and another winner may be named.

The authors of papers that are selected for publication will be required to sign GLTR’s standard agreement warranting the entry’s originality and granting GLTR first publication rights.
If a potential winner does not respond within 14 days of the first attempt to contact them or the contact email is returned as non-deliverable, the potential winner forfeits all rights to be named as a winner or receive a prize and an alternate winner may be chosen.
Entrants may submit multiple entries per year. Jointly authored papers are eligible, provided all authors meet the eligibility requirements for the competition. If a winning paper has more than one author the prize will be split equally among the co-authors.
Winners will be solely responsible for all federal, state, local or other taxes on the prize if any such taxes apply. Cash prizes will only be paid in U.S. Dollars via check or bank transfer. Any bank fees that may be charged as a part of the award process will be deducted from the prize.
Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy (“Institute”) and the Georgetown Technology Law Review (“GTLR”) are not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry information; late, lost, or misdirected entries; or computer errors or issues, including any bug, computer virus or other technical failure.
In the unlikely event that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit an award, the Institute and GLTR reserve the right to declare no winners and award no prizes.
The Writing Competition is governed by U.S. law, and all relevant federal, state, and local rules and regulations apply. By participating, all entrants agree that the competition shall be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia and that the courts of the District of Columbia shall have exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute or litigation relating to or arising from the competition. Void where prohibited by law.
By participating, each entrant agrees to the rules of the Writing Competition and the decisions of the Institute and GLTR and releases, discharges, and holds harmless the Institute and GLTR and each of their respective officers, directors, members, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns from any and all liability whatsoever in connection with the Writing Competition, including without limitation legal claims, costs, injuries, loss or damages, demands, or actions of any kind.
This Writing Competition may be canceled, modified, or terminated for any reason.

2023 Winners

First Place

Sean Norick Long, Alejandra Catharia Uria, and Elena Sokoloski

Second Place

Cleo-Symone Scott

Third Place

Johanna Hahn

2023 Writing Competition

The 2023 competition challenged students to explore emerging technologies, new applications of technologies, and their relationships to social justice. A panel of judges selected the three winners in a fully-blind judging process from dozens of submissions to the competition.

1st Place: Sean Norick Long, Georgetown University; Alejandra Catharia Uria, Yale University; and Elena Sokoloski, Yale University. “Digital Access to Justice: Automating Court Fee Waivers in Oklahoma”

2nd Place: Cleo-Symone Scott, University of Richmond. “Biopiracy: Using New Laws and Databases to Protect Indigenous Communities”

3rd Place: Johanna Hahn, Harvard University. “Blame the Human, Not (Just) the Algorithm: Regulating Facial Recognition Technology to Prevent Wrongful Arrests”

2022 Winners

First Place

Alyssa Rose Domino

Second Place

Eric Leis

Third Place

Yinuo Geng

2022 Writing Competition

A panel of judges selected the three winners in a fully-blind judging process from the more than forty submissions to the competition. Thank you to all who submitted papers, as well as our judges who took the time to review and select our winners this year.

1st Place: Alyssa Rose Domino, Georgetown University Law Center, “From Food on a Platter to Food on the Platform: Datafication of the Restaurant Industry”

2nd Place: Eric Leis, The Law School at University of Notre Dame, “Judicial Review of Commissioner HAL 9000”

3rd Place: Yinuo Geng, Georgetown University Law Center, “Comparing ‘Deepfake’ Regulatory Regimes in the United States, the European Union and China”

Honorable Mention: Gabriella Mills, University of Houston Law Center, “The Limitations of Artificial Intelligence in the Sociological Sphere: Pretrial Risk Assessments, Domestic Violence, and the Bias Between”

2021 Winners

First Place

Matthew Leiwant

Second Place

Dana Holmstrand

Third Place

Rachel Anderson

2021 Writing Competition

The competition, conducted with generous support from BSA | The Software Alliance, challenged students to explore the emerging and sustained challenges to legal and political structures created by online platforms, digital services, and other emerging technologies. A panel of judges—comprising representatives from academia, civil society, and industry—selected the three winners in a fully-blind judging process from the more than forty submissions to the competition.

1st Place: Matthew Leiwant, Georgetown University, “Locked Out: How Algorithmic Tenant Screening Exacerbates the Eviction Crisis in the United States”

2nd Place: Dana Holmstrand, Georgetown University, “A Haunted (Smart) House: Smart Home Devices as Tools of Harassment and Abuse”

3rd Place: Rachel Anderson, University of Virginia, “Geo-Targeting Jurisdiction: Online Ads and the Economics of Specific Jurisdiction”