Writing Competitions and Contests

Get published and win rewards. As a Law Student Division member, you are eligible to participate in ABA law student writing competitions sponsored by ABA specialty groups. Some writing competitions even offer monetary awards and publishing credit.

For more information, please contact the sponsoring entity directly. Need help finding an entity?

Dates on competitions change yearly. Please click on each link for the latest and most up-to-date information. For competitions that have taken place for this calendar year, estimated yearly entry dates are provided.

ABA Writing Competitions

Antitrust Law

• Section of Antitrust Law – Law Student Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: Late February
  Award: $2,500 and Free admission and round-trip airfare to Spring Meeting, Announcement in upcoming issue of Antitrust, the Section’s magazine and the section’s e-magazine.

Armed Forces Law

• Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law
  Entry Deadline: November 12, 2021
  Award: Up to $750 in reimbursements paid for travel/accommodation expenses to attend the ABA Midyear Meeting; acknowledged and published on SCAFL’s website.

Consumer Protection Committee

• Consumer Protection Committee Law Student Essay Contest
  2020 Entry Deadline: Late January
  Award: First place: $5,000 scholarship and all expense paid trip to ABA Antitrust Law’s Spring Meeting. Second Place, $3,000. Third place, $2,000.

Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability

• ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability and Long & Levit LLP – Ed Mendrzycki Essay Contest
  2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-March
  Award: $5,000 cash prize and an all-expense-paid trip to the Spring 2019 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, April 3-5, 2019.

Business Law

• Mendes Hershman Writing Contest
  2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-February
  Award: $1,000 cash prize

Tort Trial and Insurance Practice (TIPS)

• Admiralty and Maritime Law Committee Law Student Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-March
  Award: $500; financial assistance to attend the ABA Annual Meeting ($500 maximum).

Family Law

• Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest
  Entry Deadline: April 9, 2021
  Award: First, second, and third-place winners are awarded monetary prizes, as well as publication of the winning entries on the Section’s website, and more!

Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

• Gellhorn-Sargentich Law Student Essay Award Competition
  Entry Deadline: September 15, 2020
  Award: Cash prize of $5000 plus up to $1000 of expenses paid for travel/accommodation to attend the Fall Administrative Law Conference.

Environment, Energy, & Resources

• Constitutional Law Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

• Endangered Species Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize, second place: $750 cash prize, third place: $500 cash prize

• Energy Law Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize, second place: $750 cash prize, third place: $500 cash prize

• Environmental Transactions and Brownfields / Superfund and Natural Resources Damages Litigation Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

• Forest Law Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

• International Environmental and Resources Law Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

• Public Land and Resources Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

• Waste and Resource Recovery Writing Competition
  2021 Entry Deadline: May 31
  Award: First place: $1,000 cash prize

Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section

• K. William Kolbe Law Student Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: June
  Award: $2,500 cash prize plus expense paid travel to the Section’s Fall Council Group Meeting

Real Property, Trust & Estate

• Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Student Writing Contest
  2020 Entry Deadline: Late May
  Award: $2,000; expense-paid trip to attend the Section’s Fall Council Meeting; and one-year free Section membership.

Commission on Disability Rights

• Disability Rights Adam A. Milani Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-June
  First Prize will range between $300 and $1,000, depending on whether multiple awards are given; possible publication in the Disability Rights Reporter.
  

Section of Dispute Resolution

• James Boskey Essay Competition
  2020 Entry deadline: Mid-June
  Award: $1,000; published on Dispute Resolution website

Criminal Justice

• Criminal Justice Annual William W. Greenhalgh Student Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: Early July
  Award: $2,500; expense-paid trip to ABA Annual Meeting; and possible publication in Criminal Justice magazine.

Forum on Construction Law

• ABA Forum on Construction Law’s Law Student Writing Competition
  2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-July
  Award: Cash prize of $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.

Law & National Security

• Law and National Security Writing Competition
  On Hiatus for the 2020-2021 School Year
  Award: $500; free registration to the 21st Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law Conference (FNSL); air travel and one night’s lodging to FNSL to receive award; and possible publication in the National Security Law Report.

Public Contract Law

• Public Contract Law Student Writing Competition
  Entry Deadline: September 30, 2020
  Award: $2,000 and consideration for publication in the Public Contract Law Journal.

Health Law

• Annual ABA Health Law Student Writing Competition
  Deadline TBA
  Award: First place: Publication in The Health Lawyer, a $500 honorarium, and attendance at the ABA’s Emerging Issues in Healthcare conference.

Other Writing and Essay Contests

Center for Alcohol Policy National Essay Contest
Entry deadline: January 8, 2021
Award: 1st place, $5,000. 2nd place, $2,500. 3rd place, $1,000.

CLCT Innovative Legal Issues Likely To Arise From Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things Writing Competition
Entry deadline: December 20, 2020
Award: First place $2,500, second place $1,500 and third place $1,000. The winners will also have the unique opportunity of presenting their papers to a selected audience of executives from Cisco Systems, Inc.

Center for Alcohol Policy Annual Essay Contest
Entry deadline: January 8, 2021
Award: Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners in the amounts of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 respectively.

Hofstra Law School and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Family Law Writing Competition
2020 Entry Deadline: Mid-February
Award: $500; possible publication in the Family Court Review.

Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition
2020 Entry deadline: Mid-July
Awards: The winner will receive a $500 prize from Cengage Learning and up to $1,000 for expenses to attend the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting. Winning and runner-up entries will be invited to submit their entries to Unbound, the official journal of Legal History and Rare Books.

National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees Law Student Writing Competition
2020 Entry Deadline: Late April
Award: The author of the first-place essay will receive a $1000.00 cash prize. The winning essay will be published in the NACTT Quarterly – The Quarterly Journal of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees. The winner will also receive free registration and a room for the 2019 NACTT annual seminar in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Bar Association
Michael Greenberg Student Writing Competition
2021 Deadline: TBA
Awards: Cash prizes. First-place winner will also receive registration, airfare and lodging to attend the Lavender Law Conference and publication in the Journal of Law and Sexuality at Tulane University Law School.

California Supreme Court Historical Society Selma Moidel Smith Law Student Writing Competition
2020 Entry Deadline: Late June
Award: $2,500 cash prize and an opportunity to be published via the Association’s website. $500 for second place, $250 for third.

Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund (AEF) – Robert T. Matsui Annual Writing Competition
2020 Entry Deadline: Early July
Award: $1,500 and publication in the UCLA Asian Pacific American Law Journal.

Chapman LLC Scholarship for Law Students
Entry Deadline: Spring 2021
Award: A check for $1,000 will be sent to the scholarship recipient’s law school of choice for law school expenses.