Are you a law student? Then apply for the William W. Greenhalgh Student Writing Competition, sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association (ABA).
Aim of William W. Greenhalgh Student Writing Competition
The aim of the William W. Greenhalgh student writing competition is to attract students to the practice of criminal justice and also encourage scholarship in the field.
Who is Eligible?
The competition is open to all students of an ABA-accredited school within the United States.
All applicants must be citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States who must be at least 21 years.
Ineligibility
The competition is closed to the employees, directors, and officers of the ABA, and the members of their families.
Topic:
By reversing Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court of the United States in Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) opened the door for states to initiate criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to women obtaining abortions.
What role do federal Constitution rights, such as the Fourth Amendment, as well as parallel state constitutional protections, play in protecting access to potential evidence?
For example, this could include potential sources of evidence such as location data, online searches, data from health apps, travel information, information relating to physicians or medication, and/or other communication records and methods of inquiry, among others. How will this potential evidence intersect with other constitutional rights?
What the Judges want
The judges will determine the competition winners based on submissions with clear, persuasive, and original analytical reasoning that is well-supported with concrete examples and references.
The winning entry will contain an original discussion of the selected topic, will be substantively accurate and supported by citations, and will be grammatically correct, concise, well-reasoned, and clearly written. Also, the winning entry must be chosen based on the following:
- Writing quality
- Analysis and legal reasoning;
- Originality;
- Quality and use of research;
- Compliance with these Rules.
The Section reserves the right not to award a prize if, in the judgment of the Criminal Justice magazine editorial board’s judging panel, no entry meets these conditions. The decision of the editorial board is final.
Announcement and Notification of the Winner of William W. Greenhalgh student writing competition
The winner of the competition will be notified by 11:59 pm on August 31st 2023 CST.
Note: The potential winner has 30 days to respond, after which the potential winner shall forfeit all rights to be named as winner or receive a prize.
In a situation where a potential winner does not respond within 30 days or the notification is returned as non-deliverable, an alternative winner may be chosen.
Prize:
- The winner of the competition will receive the following:
- A cash prize of $2,500
- An approved transportation cost not to exceed $800
- Conditions for receiving the prize
To receive the prize, the winner must submit the following:
- A completed IRS Form W-9
- Affidavit of eligibility
- Tax acknowledgement and liability release for tax purposes.
Note:
All forms must be completed and returned via email within 10 business days of receipt to Mitzy Reid:
Prizes are not transferable
If the winning entry is selected for publication, the winner shall sign a copyright agreement warranting the entry’s originality and granting the ABA first publication rights.
Application Guidelines:
- Only unpublished and original papers are eligible.
- School papers prepared for school credit are eligible.
- Joint papers are not eligible
- Applicants are entitled to one submission only
- Submitted works shall not exceed 4,000 words, including texts, title, and citations.
- Entries must be in word document as an email attachment.
- Entries should reflect the style and format of the Criminal Justice magazine
- All citations must conform to the 20th edition of the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.
Submission Format:
- Title of paper
- Author’s name (and the name of reviewing faculty member/practicing lawyer, if applicable)
- Telephone number(s), mailing address(es), and e-mail address(es) where the author can be reached June–August 2023
- Name of law school
- Year of expected graduation
- Date submitted for academic credit (if applicable)
- Entrant’s personal certification of good standing at the law school.
The second title page should include only:
- Title of paper
- The last four (4) digits of the author’s phone number.
Submission Deadline
The last day for submission of entries is 11:59 pm CST, on July, 1, 2023.
Send your entries to Erin Remotigue, Editor, Criminal Justice Magazine, ABA:
erin.remotigue@americanbar.org.
For further information visit americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice.