Islamic Jurisprudence, May 7, 2008 deadline for student publication 1/1/06-1/31/08

Ibrahim Shihata Prize

For outstanding student writing on Islamic law and related legal developments in the Muslim World

Competition Guidelines
Ì Eligibility for 2008 WFLS Shihata Prize
¨ The WFLS Shihata Prize is awarded through an open competition.
¨ Each author candidate may submit one article or note addressing a topic of Islamic jurisprudence or related legal development in the Muslim World.
¨ The work submitted must have been authored by a student and published in English in an academic journal in the United States or Canada during the 25-month period between January 1, 2006 and January 31, 2008. (Proof of publication required.)
¨ Journals may enter submissions on behalf of individual author candidates whose work they have published.
Ì Submission Deadline
¨ May 7, 2008
Ì Procedures
¨ Electronic submissions (preferred) may be sent to postmaster@wfls.org. (To help avoid the risk of capacity-based e-mail rejections by our internet service provider, journals are encouraged to avoid making last minute electronic submissions.)
¨ Contact information for submitting journal should be included in text of e-mail transmission and not attached file.
¨ Mail-in submissions: Cover letter from submitting journal and 5 copies of submission may be mailed not later than submission deadline to WFLS, Shihata Competition, PO Box 66542, Washington Square, Washington, DC 20035.
¨ Submissions (electronic or hard copy) must be in publication format, i.e. submissions should be formatted in a manner similar to that appearing in the published journal, with the exception that references to the name of the journal, author, or other potential identifier information be removed.
¨ Proof of publication may consist of availability on Lexis or Westlaw (provide cite), a hard copy of journal cover and table of contents, or other sufficient proof.


For Further Information or Questions Contact: WFLS/Shihata Competition at 703 994 0666.
http://www.wfls.org/version02/html/previous_shihata.html

http://www.wfls.org/version02/html/awards.html

***

Image source: wikipedia; found in article on Islamic Turkish, Iranian, and Indian Empires (1030-1918). Nine hundred years, three cultures, all in four paragraphs ... hmmm. For more scholarly treatment, see e.g., the Journal of Islamic Law and Culture (Arkansas) (formerly at Depaul as Journal of Islamic Law and Culture).

Law and Society -- $500 for travel expenses to Denver; nomination procedure

The approach to Law and Society writing contest recognition is through a nomination process. Students memberships to this organization are offered at a reduced rate. Scholarly papers that meet the criteria for this organizations eight prizes and awards are nominated by members of the society.

The Law and Society web site contains an array of information, highlights that pertain to writing awards for undergraduate and graduate students are highlighted below. Additional Law and Society awards are designed for experienced scholars; all are discussed at the Law and Society web site.

As for the writing awards that pertain to law students, highlights for the Society web site information include:

Association Prizes

The Law and Society Association offers eight prizes and awards for scholarship in the field of law and society. They are the Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in Law and Society: the J. Willard Hurst Prize for the Best Work in Sociolegal Legal History; the Herbert Jacob Book Prize; the Law and Society Association Article Prize; the Law and Society Association International Prize; the Stanton Wheeler Mentorship Prize, and three student prizes -- an undergraduate paper prize, a graduate student paper prize, and a dissertation prize.

Calls for Nominations for 2009 prizes will be issued on this website and the LSA Newsletter this Fall, with due dates in late 2008 - early 2009. Prizes will be awarded at the annual meeting in May in Denver.

Sampling of winning student titles (more appear on the Law and Society web site, under the student writing awards category):

Regulating the ‘Social Mix:’ How and Why Do France and the U.S. Desegregate Housing (2008)

Myth‑making and the Collision of Rights in Sudan (2008)

It's Just Black, White or Hispanic": An Ethno- graphic Examination of Racializing Moves in California's Segregated Prison Reception Centers (2007)

From Institutional Change to Customer Service: The Development of the Practical Meaning of Title VI (2006)

Inside Out and Upside Down in Indian Country: Law's Colonization of the Native Nations (2005)

How Green Was My Valley? An Examination of Tournament Theory as a Governance Mechanism in Silicon Valley Law Firms (2004)

***
Image link: wikipedia; Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh

Affordable Housing/Community Development $1,000 and trip to D.C. in May 2009; March 2, 2009 deadline

Affordable Housing/Community Development $1,000 and trip to D.C. in May 2009; March 2, 2009 deadline

Eligibility:
Open to all students currently enrolled in an ABA Accredited Law School.

Topic:
Papers should address any legal issue regarding affordable housing and/or community development law.

Submission Requirements:
Entries must be original, unpublished work. Articles should be between 25-50 double-spaced pages and should include endnotes rather than footnotes. The page limit includes the endnotes. However, if an entry extends slightly beyond 50 pages, it will not be categorically rejected. The definition of "slightly" is left to one’s discretion--compliance with the page limit requirement is an evaluation factor whose weight will vary depending upon the evaluator.

There is no entry form of any kind. A title page should be attached and must contain the title of the submission, the student's name, and the student's contact information including street address, phone number(s), and email address.

Award:
Submissions will be blindly evaluated by a committee of Forum members. The best paper as judged by the selection committee will be awarded a prize of $1,000 and a trip to attend the 18th Forum's Annual Conference, May 20-22, 2009, in Washington, D.C., airfare and lodging included*.

The winning essay may also be published in the Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law.

Date:
All entries must be postmarked by March 2, 2009.

Send entries to:
SCOTT L. CUMMINGS
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Box 951476
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476
310-794-5495
cummings@law.ucla.edu

*Coach airfare, 21-day advance purchase and lodging at the conference hotel for 2 nights.

Anti-trust law; $10,000; $1,500 -- December 31, 2008 deadline

This competition just came to my attention, when I was browsing the writing competition site maintained at the University of Oregon.

The deadline is December 31, 2008 for this year's Swope anti-trust competition which features a generous first place prize of $10,000. As a practical matter, blog readers who already have completed an article covering an anti-trust issue are the only blog readers who are still in the running for this year's competition. For other readers, consider next year! Also, remember to check the writing competition sites in the side bar to this blog, to identify competitions that may not have come to my attention yet.

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William E. Swope Antitrust Writing Prize
Washington - The international law firm Jones Day announced that entries for the $10,000 William E. Swope Antitrust Writing Prize will be accepted until December 31, 2008.

The competition, which honors former Antitrust Division official and Jones Day partner Bill Swope's pioneering ability to clarify abstract and complex issues, is open to students currently enrolled in full- or part-time juris doctorate or more advanced degree programs at U.S. law schools accredited by AALS and non-U.S. schools of equivalent standing, to current judicial clerks who have graduated from such programs, and to practicing lawyers who graduated from such degree programs in May 2003 or later.

One $10,000 prize and two $1,500 honorable mention prizes will be awarded. Winners will attend the 2009 Spring Meeting of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section in Washington as guests of Jones Day and will be guests of honor at a Firm reception.

Judges will be looking for work that demonstrates the application of practical analysis to antitrust problems. Eligible papers will also be judged on quality of research, writing, and scholarship; originality; practicality; and relevance to the understanding and application of antitrust law and policy.

Papers must be the product of a single author's original thought and scholarship. Their length should be appropriate to the subject matter being addressed and must not exceed 15,000 words, including footnotes. Papers used for academic credit or submitted to law reviews or other journals are permitted, but they must have been submitted or published no earlier than than one year prior to the December 31, 2008 deadline. An individual may submit only one entry.

The first page of each submission should include the paper's title, the author's full contact information, and an abstract of approximately 100 words. If the paper or a version of the paper was previously published, submitted for publication, or written for a course, details should be provided.

Papers should be submitted electronically to SwopePrize@jonesday.com. Entrants should attach the paper in Word, Word-Perfect, or PDF format and include full contact information in the body of the e-mail as well as on the attachment's title page. Receipt will be acknowledged by return e-mail. Winners will be notified on March 2, 2009.

For more information, click: here.

***

Image: Queen Elizabeth I, from Wikipedia. For Elizabeth I's approach to anti-trust law in a global economy, see the wiki article: Antitrust, Renaissance Developments.

Land Use Law -- $2,500; $1,000; $250 - Watch for 2009 competition (deadline in June)

Watch for the 2009 competition announcement: here.

Historical competition information:

The Planning & Law Division of the American Planning Association announces its Twenty-fifth Annual Smith-Babcock-Williams Student Writing Competition. The Competition, which honors the memory of three leading figures in American city planning law — R. Marlin Smith, Richard Babcock, and Norman Williams — is open to law students and planning students, writing on a question of significance in planning, planning law, land use law, local government law or environmental law.

The winning entry will be awarded a prize of $2,500 and will be submitted for publication in The Urban Lawyer, the law journal of the American Bar Association's Section of State & Local Government Law. In addition to the first prize, the Competition will offer a second place prize of $1,000 and up to two Honorable Mentions of $250. The deadline for submission of entries is June 9, 2008 and the winners will be announced by September 15, 2008. Please refer to the official rules for further details.

Image: wikipedia; land use forecasting (Penn-Jersey Model)

Health Law $4,000; $2,000; $500 -- January 23, 2009

Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., a national firm engaged in the practice of health care and life sciences law, is pleased to announce its Eleventh Annual Health Care and Life Sciences Law Writing Competition. The competition is designed to encourage the preparation of scholarly papers on current topics of interest relating to health law. Cash prizes will be awarded as follows for the three best papers:

• First Place: $4,000
• Second Place: $2,000
• Third Place: $500

Students should take advantage of the fact that health law is a very broad and diverse field, encompassing aspects of almost every area of law. Papers may address any traditional area of the law as applied to health care (e.g., antitrust, tax, corporate), or areas of law unique to health care (e.g., fraud and abuse, managed care, Medicare/Medicaid, clinical trials). Entries in the top twenty percent will be considered for publication in the Annals of Health Law published by the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Rule highlights:

Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria: (1) originality of thought, (2) clarity of presentation, (3) technical excellence, (4) relevance to current health law issues, (5) timeliness of topic, and (6) depth of research.

Papers authored by two or more eligible students are permitted in the Competition. All work submitted must be the product of the author or authors, without substantial assistance from others.

Papers prepared for law school credit are eligible for entry in the Competition provided that the work is original, and the editing and citation work has been done by the author(s).

Authors may submit more than one entry to the Competition. Please submit each entry separately.

Entries are due by January 23, 2009. No late entries will be accepted.

Entries should be submitted via the Competition website at www.ebglaw.com/competition.

More information: here.

image: Wikipedia (Wilson Bentley snowflake)

Attorney-CPA $2,500; $1,500; $500; $250 -- 02/27/09

Attorney-CPA $2,500; $1,500; $500; $250 -- 02/27/09

The Attorney-CPA Foundation invites you to submit an essay in the law student or accounting student division of the 2008 essay contest.

LAW STUDENT DIVISION
If you are a law student, your topic is:

Compare and contrast the client privileges with respect to communications with an attorney and with a CPA:
(a) under federal tax law;
(b) in your state; and
(c) in one other state from among NY, FL, CA or Texas.

The approximate length of your essay is 20 pages (including footnotes or endnotes), typed, double-spaced.....

EACH DIVISION
Each division will be judged separately, and each will have its own winners. In each division:

Prizes: Grand Prize $2,500
Runner up $1,500
Third & Fourth, each $500
4 Regional Prizes, each $250

DUE DATE: Essays must be received by February 27, 2009.

Send essays to: Essay Contest
Attorney-CPA Foundation
3921 Old Lee Highway, Suite 71A
Fairfax, VA 22030

Entry forms and rules: The rules and application may be downloaded from our website or call 888-ATTY-CPA to have a set sent to you.

**For additional information or questions, you are invited to call Nicole M. Emard, CMP, Executive Director of the American Association of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants, at 888-ATTY-CPA or FAX, 888-272-2889.

This announcement is only a summary of the rules. The rules and on-line submission forms are uploaded: here.

Image source: Wikipedia on Luca Pacioli and Accountancy

Labor Law - $3,000, $1,000 - reminder of 01/20/09 deadline

A reminder has just been distributed for entries for the Louis Jackson Memorial National Law Student Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law.

Entries are due on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The competition is sponsored and funded by Jackson Lewis in memory of Louis Jackson, a founding partner of the firm, and is administered by the Institute for Law and the Workplace at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Entries are blind judged by a national panel of five labor/employment law professors. Neither Chicago-Kent nor Jackson Lewis have any say in evaluating the entries or selecting the winners. The author of the winning entry receives $3,000 and the two second place finishers receive $1,000 each.

Additional information is available here http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/plel/flyer%202008-09.pdf

Image source: Wikipedia, Labour (economics)

Art & Cultural Property -- $1,000, $500 -- 06/12/09

The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation announces its 2008-2009 Student Writing Competition in Cultural Heritage Law. The prize amounts awarded annually are $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place. The Annual Competition is sponsored by Andrews Kurth LLP.

Competition Details:

• The deadline for 2009 submissions is June 12.
• Suitable papers may address any aspect of cultural heritage law including cultural property, art law, historic preservation, indigenous cultures and intangible heritage (but not intellectual property except as it relates to intangible indigenous heritage).
• Selection criteria focus on the ability of the author to present critical analyses of a current issue in cultural heritage law and to propose solutions.
• Each submitted paper must be supported by a law school faculty member.
• Papers should follow law review article style and formatting and must be submitted electronically by the deadline of June 12, 2009
• Two prizes will be awarded: a first-place prize of $1000 and a second-place prize of $500. The first-place paper will be offered publication in the LCCHP-sponsored 2010 Yearbook of Cultural Property Law. The second-place paper will be offered publication on the LCCHP web site.
• The winning papers may be offered publication in the Yearbook of Cultural Property Law or on the LCCHP web site.

For more information, visit The Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation.
Image: wikipedia

American Indian Law, $500, $300, $200 -- 03/30/08

Chief Justice John B. Doolin Writing Competition

In conjunction with Sovereignty Symposium XXI, which will be held June 4 and June 5, 2008 at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a scholarly collection of legal and historical writings will be presented to all participants. Legal libraries all over the United States regularly solicit copies of the publications for their collections. The subject matter of the paper may be on any area of the law relating to Native Americans or other indigenous peoples. First, second, and third prizes in the amounts of $500.00; $300.00; and $200.00 will be awarded. The winning entry will also be published in the 2008 Symposium compendium of materials. Second and third place entries will be published if space permits. Entries must be received no later than March 30, 2008. Publication releases will be required prior to payment of prize money.

For more details, as well as two other scholarship opportunities, click: here.

Image link: wikipedia on Tribal Sovereignty

Energy Environment -- $500, $250, possible invitation to speak at March conference ------ January 16, 2009 deadline

Energy Environment -- $500, $250, possibile invitation to speak at March conference sponsored by Hofstra University, Wright Risk Management, and Congdon, Flaherty,O’Callaghan, Reid, Donlon, Travis & Fishlinger, Long Island, New York and -- January 16, 2009 deadline

Entries will be accepted on all topics addressing the intersection between energy and environmental policy, although topics which focus on the power of consumers to influence the
energy/environment equation are especially encouraged. Articles should concentrate on a current legal or policy issue and must have a strong foundation in legal research.

Entries will be judged on the quality of legal analysis, relevance to ongoing policy debates, originality, depth of research, timeliness, creativity, and format. A panel of Hofstra Law
faculty and administrators will coordinate the review and evaluation of all articles.

First Prize
• $500 cash prize courtesy of Hofstra Law School, Wright Risk Management and Congdon, Flaherty, O’Callaghan, Reid, Donlon,Travis & Fishlinger
• Possible invitation to speak at the “Energy and the Environment: Empowering Consumers” conference
• Certificate of Recognition as First Prize Winner
• Letter of publication support to scholarly journals and reviews in the field
• Letter to the Dean of the student’s law school

Honorable Mention (up to 2)
• $250 cash prize courtesy of Hofstra Law School, Wright Risk Management and Congdon, Flaherty, O’Callaghan, Reid, Donlon,Travis & Fishlinger
• Certificate of Recognition as Honorable Mention Winner
• Letter to the Dean of the student’s law school

Competition brochure: pdf
Conference (March 20-21, 2009) and competition homepage: html

Image: West Texas Pumpjack, Wikipedia Commons

You Tube Video or Short Essay on Gender Diversity - Open to Young Lawyers (broadly defined) and Law Students -- 12/31/08, $500

(this contest was posted previously on this blog, at this link).

The contest is open to
(a) law students – all law students attending an ABA-accredited law school; and
(b) young lawyers – lawyers under 36 years old or admitted to practice for less than 5 years.

Prizes

1. There will be one YouTube video winner and one essay winner in each category of law students and young lawyers.

2. Each winner will be presented with a $500 honorarium.

Videos: YouTube video entries are limited to three (3) minutes in length and must be uploaded to the YouTube contest submission site at www.youtube.com/group/GenderDiversity. Nothing in the videos shall identify the entrant. In addition to uploading the video to YouTube, the entrant must submit the online entry form below. A copy of the video also must be sent to: ABA Commission on Women in the Profession - YouTube; 321 N. Clark Street - 18th Floor; Chicago, IL 60654. Burn the video file onto a CD or DVD in WMV or RealMedia format. If you have any problem with the format, contact Barbara Leff at leffb@staff.abanet.org. Incomplete entries are void.

Essays: Essay entries must be submitted online as a Microsoft Word document no more than 600 words (actual text) or six (6) pages in length, double spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point, with 1-inch top, bottom, and side margins. Footnotes are prohibited. Essays must be uploaded below. In addition to uploading the essay, the entrant must submit the online entry form below. Incomplete entries are void.

Deadline (on-line submissions): Entries must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. Central Time on December 31, 2008. Entries submitted after that time will not be accepted.

Image: wikipedia commons, Rosie the Riveter

Paralyzed Veterans’ Competition - Student and Professional Divisions - $3,000 - May 15, 2009

Paralyzed Veterans’ Competition - Student and Professional Divisions - $3,000 - May 15, 2009

The nationwide contest is designed to encourage debate within the current and next generation of the legal profession on public policy issues affecting today’s veterans.

The competition is open to all law students enrolled in American Bar Association-accredited law schools for entry in the law student division, and to law school graduates and law professors for entry in the professional division. Prizes of $3,000 each will be awarded in the two divisions. Winners will also receive assistance from Paralyzed Veterans in publishing the paper in appropriate professional publications and/or presenting the paper at appropriate professional association gatherings.

The topic of this year’s competition is “After Two Decades of Judicial Review, has the Veterans Benefits Adjudication System Improved?”

**

Image: Van Gogh, wikipedia

Featured Writing Competition Website: Sturm College of Law, University of Denver

Take a look at this writing competition site: Sturm College of Law, University of Denver

One of the features I like about it is the box in the upper right hand corner of the page that highlights competition deadlines. Its clean web design makes it very straightforward and useful.

Image: 1898 Denver, Colorado

Acknowledging Sources [Avoiding Plagiarism]

It's a slow news period for writing competitions. I will continue with a discussion of approaches to polishing the article your plan to submit to a writing competition, or to another venue.

A google search for tips on how to quote and paraphrase is:

quoting paraphrasing plagiarism

Today, the top result from that search is an excellent power point presentation, from a public high school in New Jersey.

I've included a reference to that search, together with other materials, on a short slide show that I've uploaded to SSRN: Acknowledging Sources: Attribution and Perspectives on Originality

Image: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (from Wikipedia Commons)

Polishing that Article

For those of you who are planning on spending a good bit of the holiday polishing up an article for submission to one of these competitions, I have a few words of advice, related to acknowledging your sources.

For this morning, I will share a link to an article in the SSRN database which demonstrates how to talk about someone else's scholarship and then say something additional that is unique to you. In this example, several articles on baseline topics in litigation practice that touch on insurance law are summarized, with attention to who the author was and what the author said. After the summaries, new research and analysis is provided, with a focus on the law of our state (Arkansas).

The article is useful to show how to incorporate the background research into your own scholarly discussion. It is uploaded and freely available, here

Image: Computer Mouse, Wikipedia Commons

International Economic Law $500 and publication; March 9, 2009

James Baker Hughes Prize on the subject of international economic law. $500 cash award from Judge and Mrs. Lynn N. Hughes. The winning submission will be published as the "James Baker Hughes Prize" article in an upcoming issue of the Houston Journal of International Law.

Deadline for submissions is March 9, 2009. Details appear on photographs that accompany this blog.


Image: Moon over Fayetteville, Arkansas 12/12/08.
About that moon: here's a story about the fact that seeing it last night was seeing a 15 year wonder: A full moon spectacular (because it is at its perigee)
Anticipating the moon, the media sent out some plan-ahead signals, and I missed all of them. Lucky me to be driving east as the moon was rising last night!

A Finals Post.

A Finals Post.

1. You are where you are, and the people near you are part of that location. The people who are in your location, who are family, will be there when you come up for air. Be good to them.

2. Within your available time, make the most of it. If you share space with other people, they will affect the amount of your available time. Accept that, and move forward with that insight.

3. Be good to you: a) Sleep; b) Eat; c) Exercise.

4. Move forward: a) Name the impediment that stops you from moving forward; b) live in the moment – your purpose in life through December 18 is clarified; c) give yourself at least one full minute to begin a task; that minute should inspire you to be fully engaged, and you're off.

5. To keep you moving forward, a) consider clocking yourself with a kitchen timer, to help you use at least 6 hours of concentrated effort each day, in increments of 20, 30, 45 minutes -- whatever works for you; b) keep a bag of sunflower seeds handy for bits of good nourishment and a source for letting off steam while keeping the focus on the study; c) drink plenty of water -- to keep oxygen flowing to your brain and other things afloat.

***

Search terms that lead to helpful web sites:

eat sleep exercise finals
happy food

Some helpful web sites:

Healthy ways to stay alert during finals

Happy Food (a good title for your Christmas wish list)

Top Ten Happy Foods

Finals Coming Up: Your Body Needs Good Nutrition

LawCare's Worksheet (for the office job, but can be adapted to a finals study schedule).