$65,000.00 first place prize -- 15-page brief: PhilShaweScholarship

Outstanding opportunity for a significant scholarship ($65,000; $25,000 and $10,000 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place briefs).  Briefs of up to 15 pages will address the constitutional implications of a state court's powers to adopted a forced sale remedy, when shareholders of a highly profitable, privately-held corporation are deadlocked.  Competition briefs will be judged first by a group of experienced counsel from Lateral Link Group, Inc.

Sign up to compete here:  https://philshawescholarship.com

April 27, 2017 deadline for contests in the Arkansas Writers' Conference (and related contests)

Contests 1-3 (open to state of Arkansas residents) (but look out below for many others)

Contests OPEN TO ALL. Cash Awards for contests 4-13 vary.

4. David Goodgame Memorial Award ($100/$60/$40). Free verse poem. 40 line limit. Chair: Rita Goodgame
5. Fiction Who-Dunnit Award. ($50/$30/$20). Short Mystery Story. The Case of the Lost Family Heirloom. 1500 words. Chair: Brenda Iannacone
6. AR Pioneer Branch NLAPW Prose Award. ($50/$30/$20) Humorous short story about humorous marriage proposal. 1000 words Chair: Brenda Iannacone
7. WOW! Press Award. ($50/$30/$20) Personal memoir story. Subject: Life changes- A personal reflection. “My How Things Have Changed.” 1000 wd. max. Chair: Janis F. Kearney
8. AR Pioneer Branch NLAPW Poetry Award. ($50/$30/$20) Free Verse. Any subject. 24 line limit. Chair: Brenda Iannacone
9. LaViness Award for Living Mystery, ($25/$15/$10) Mystery Short Story, Not a murder mystery, No deaths allowed., 3000 words max. Chair: Renee LaViness
10. Scott Plantation Settlement Award. ($25/$15/$10) Memoir. Feature a Country Church. www.scottconnections.org. 2500 word limit. Chair: Sara Gipson
11. LIGHTS OUT! ($25/$15/$10) Fantasy Short Story. Humorous fantasy whose protagonist is afraid of the dark. 2500 word limit. Brief critique given if requested on top of page one of submission. Chair: Carol Hodges
12. Penpoint Writers Group Contest. ($25/$15/$10) Fiction Any Genre, Subject: “Summertime”, 3 page limit. NO poems or porn. Must include “summertime” somewhere in body of the written prose. Chair: Pinpoint Writers Group
13. South Arkansas Poets of the Pines Poetry Contest. ($25/$15/$10) Form: RONDELET, 7 lines, Syllables: 4-8-4-8-8-8-4; Rhyme: a-b+R-a-b-b-R, R=refrain. Chair: South Arkansas Poets of the Pines

Contests 14-18 (open to state of Arkansas residents)

SPECIAL MEMORIAL AWARD CONTEST (Open to All)

19. Henry & Betty Heidelberger Memorial Poetry Award. ($25/$15/$10) Subject: Farming, Any form, 32 lines. Chair: Brenda Iannacone
20. Dorothy Truex Memorial Prose Award. ($25/$15/$10) Romance Short Story that involves dance. 1500 words. Chair: Ellen Withers

More information:  here

July 1, 2017 -- deadline for 2017 Warren E. Burger Prize competition (open to judges, lawyers, professors, students, scholars) $5,000 prize and publication

The American Inns of Court invites judges, lawyers, professors, students, scholars, and other authors to participate in the Warren E. Burger Prize writing competition. Please submit an original, unpublished, essay of 10,000 to 20,000 words on a topic of your choice addressing issues of legal excellence, civility, ethics, and professionalism.

• The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $5,000
• The essay will be published in the South Carolina Law Review
• The prize will be presented to the recipient at the American Inns of Court annual Celebration of Excellence at the Supreme Court of the United States

Submission deadline: Postmarked no later than July 1
Winner Announced: August 31
Presentation: October 21, 2017 during our Celebration of Excellence, which is held annually at the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC.

More information:  here

Friday, April 28 deadline - Legal Ethics -- $2,500 first place

Smith Doheny Legal Ethics Competition -- entries must be submitted by April 28, 2017.  Any topic in legal ethics, up to 50 pages.  Law students may co-author.  One prize, $2,500.

More information:  here

February 28 deadline - Criminal Law --

The Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California is pleased to announce the 2016-2017 Marshall M. Schulman Annual Competition for Student Papers in Criminal Law and/or Criminal Procedure. This is a nationwide competition; while the focus is on California law, past winners have included students attending schools across the country.

GRAND PRIZE
♦ $1500 cash prize
♦ The Grand Prize –winning paper will be published in the Criminal Law Journal, the official quarterly publication of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California
♦ One-year student membership in the Criminal Law Section


♦ $500 cash prize (three honorable mentions)
♦ Each of the papers awarded Honorable Mention status will be published in the Criminal Law Journal, the official quarterly publication of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California
♦ One-year student membership in the Criminal Law Section


To be eligible for consideration, the paper must be written solely by a student enrolled in law school at the time the author submits a paper to this Competition.

Papers should be between 1,500 and 4,500 words (including citations) and should follow the citation style of The Blue Book:  A Uniform System of Citation.  Papers that have previously been published in a book, journal, magazine, or newspaper are not eligible.

Submit in Word format and send by e-mail attachment to each of the following Criminal Law Journal co-editors:

Anne Perry (anne.perry2@usdoj.gov);
Lani Biafore (lanibiafore@gmail.com)

More information is here:  link

April 17, 2017 deadline - Legal History $500 up to $1,000 travel to AALL

The Legal History and Rare Books Section (LHRB) of the American Association of Law Libraries, in cooperation with Gale Cengage Learning, announces the annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition. The competition is named in honor of Morris L. Cohen, late Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School. Professor Cohen's scholarly work was in the fields of legal research, rare books, and historical bibliography.

The purpose of the competition is to encourage scholarship in the areas of legal history, rare law books, and legal archives, and to acquaint students with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and law librarianship. Essays may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives. The competition is open to students currently enrolled in accredited graduate programs in library science, law, history, and related fields. Both full- and part-time students are eligible. Membership in AALL is not required.

The winner will receive a $500.00 prize from Gale Cengage Learning and up to $1,000 for expenses associated with attendance at the AALL Annual Meeting.The winner and runner-up will have the opportunity to publish their essays in LH&RB’s online scholarly journal Unbound: An Annual Review of Legal History and Rare Books.

For more information, click:  here

 

June 12, 2017 deadline - Food and Drug Law Institute

Thomas Austern Writing Competition -- June 12, 2017 deadline

Students currently enrolled in a JD Program at any of the nation’s ABA-accredited law schools or a 2016-2017 academic year graduate are eligible to participate. A committee comprised of FDLI members who are practicing attorneys and law professors will judge the papers. Top papers will receive a monetary prize, FDLI membership, and will be considered for publication in the Food and Drug Law Journal.

Last year's winning topics

 First Place: “Superfoods” or “Frankenfoods”? The Biotechnology Debate, Ayah Sultan, Harvard Law School
 Conflicting Disclosure Obligations under the Federal Securities and Drug Regulatory Regimes, Joe Milner, Harvard Law School Killing U.S. Slowly: Curing the Epidemic Rise of Cancer Drug Prices, Emily White, Boston University School of Law

Honorable Mention: The Influence of OIRA Review on FDA Regulatory Acts, Colleen Campbell, Harvard Law School

More details here:
Thomas Austern Writing Competition

J.D. or LL.M. candidates -- Annual Trusts & Estates Writing Competition - June 15, 2017 deadline

Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition

					First place:  $ 5,000 and publication in the ACTEC Law Journal.
						Second place:  $ 3,000, online publication on ACTEC’s website;
						Third place:  $ 1,000, online publication on ACTEC’s website. Plus potential honorable mention awards.

Eligibility: This competition is open to any law student in good standing (full-time or part-time) who is currently or recently enrolled at the time of submission or during the 90-day period prior to submission as a J.D. or LL.M. candidate in an ABA-accredited law school within the United States or its possessions.

Area and Topics: The paper must relate to the area of trusts and estates, broadly defined. Any one or more of the following topics are appropriate for discussion:
	Business Planning
	Charitable Planning
	Elder Law
	Employee Benefits
	Fiduciary Accounting
	Fiduciary Administration
	Fiduciary Income Taxation
	Fiduciary Litigation
	Estate Planning and Drafting
	Professional Responsibility
	Substantive Laws for the Gratuitous Transmission of Property
	Wealth Transfer Taxation (Estate, Gift and GST Tax)   Deadline for submission: The submission must be received on or before June 15, 2017. An otherwise eligible submission will be considered as part of any 2018 writing competition if it is received after June 15, 2017 and before June 15, 2018 by a law student who was in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school within the United States or its possessions law at the time the paper was submitted.   Mary Moers Wenig Student Writing Competition

Application Deadline: Friday, February 17, 2017 -- 8th Annual High School Speech Competition -- Bailey & Oliver Law Firm; Rogers, Arkansas

8th Annual

High School

SPEECH COMPETITION

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Offices of Bailey and Oliver Law Firm 

3606 W. Southern Hills Blvd., Ste. 200

Rogers, AR  72758

Guidelines for Competition:

ü Write a Persuasive Speech Covering the Assigned Topic

Should the U.S. Constitution be rewritten and modernized?  Why or why not?

ü Only One Note Card Allowed During the Speech Presentation

ü Speech Time Limit:  5 Minutes

ü Business Attire

Prizes Include

1^st Place $300--2^nd Place $200--3^rd Place $100

1^st   2^nd and 3^rd place winners will also receive a plaque.

All competitors receive a DVD of their speech.

Application deadline:  Friday, February 17, 2017   

Need more information?  Contact Kim Daniels,

Community Relations Director, Bailey & Oliver Law Firm

kdaniels@baileyoliverlawfirm.com or 479-202-5200

February 28, 2017 National Law Review Submission Deadline for Students

Entries for the January  contest must be submitted via email to lawschools@natlawreview.com by 5:00 pm Central Standard Time February 28, 2017.  Winners will be published in early March.

 

 

The top two to four articles chosen will be published on the NLR website.

Each winning article will be displayed accompanied by the student’s photo, biography, contact information, law school logo, and any copyright disclosure
  http://www.natlawreview.com/NLR-law-student-writing-competition

Fast turnaround for a snappy essay: February 10, 2017 deadline

Pick one of the following topics. Please, don’t alter the topic you choose.

1. Teleported to 2050: What Will Education Look Like?
2. Is Google a Relevant Source of Knowledge?
3. The Problems of Academic Writing: Why Do Students Struggle With It?
4. The Problem with Common Core Standards: Same Expectations from Different Students
5. The Role of Parents in the Educational Process
6. Pros and Cons of Online Learning: Is It Taking the Educational System in the Right Direction?
7. Student Disrespect for Teachers: Causes and Effects

The Prizes

Three participants will get prizes:

1. $1000 for the Winner
2. $500 for the 2nd place
3. $250 for the 3rd place

We will publish these three essays on ProEssayWriting.com, and we’ll promote them via social media channels. You have a chance to get not only a prize, but exposure, too. The world we see what a great writer you are.

http://www.proessaywriting.com/writing-challenge/

Center for Human Rights at Trinity Law School - March 25, 2013 deadline, cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place submissions

The Center for Human Rights at Trinity Law School is holding its 2^nd Annual Writing Competition. Papers must address the topic of "The Evolving Tension between Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion, and Hate Speech and Blasphemy Laws."  Authors are invited to address this growing tension in a manner that best expresses the depth and scope of this continually evolving issue.

Submissions must be original, unpublished academic works by one author. Authors may only submit one paper. Multiple submissions will result in disqualification.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place papers, as well as expedited consideration in a future volume of the Trinity Law Review.

Submissions are due on or before March 25, 2013.  No papers will be accepted after that date.

Winners will be announced by April 30, 2013, via e-mail.

For more detailed information and requirements, please visit http://www.tls.edu/writing-competition/

***

File image by this blogger; I-540 N, near Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Eisenberg Prize, $2,000 for appellate practice article

$2,000

For best article on appellate practice and procedure that was published in a law review or similar publication between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012 as determined by The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a professional organization of selected lawyers who specialize in appellate practice, sponsors an award named for the late Howard B. Eisenberg, Dean of the Marquette University Law School and an early member of the AAAL. The purpose of the award is to recognize encourage publication of high-quality articles in the field of appellate practice and procedure.

For more information:  http://www.appellateacademy.org/eisenbergprize/index.cfm

(Image (June 2012) made by this blogger of artwork displayed at Terra Studios, in the Ozark Mountains, Arkansas.

Criminal Law Essay, open to undergraduates - deadline March 31, 2012

Criminal Legal Writing Competition
Introduction:
Hebets & McCallin, a premier criminal defense firm located in Denver, Colorado is hosting this competition. Our firm is hosting this competition to encourage undergraduate students to think about careers in criminal law. Entrants are asked to submit an essay on a topic related to criminal law. Winners will receive a cash prize, and recognition that can help their future resume. Below is a list of exact terms and conditions of the contest
Official Contest Rules
1) No purchase necessary. Contestants may enter the Contest by submitting an original essay on the criminal law topic of Contestant’s choice. As part of Contestant’s entry the Contestant must provide his or her first and last name, date of birth, mailing address, and email address.

2) Contestants must be 18 years of age or older to enter. There is no limit on the number of entries each Contestant may submit. Each entry must have a title and must follow the following rules: The essay must be submitted as an attachment to an email and saved in Microsoft Word format. The essay must be emailed to denvercrimelaw@gmail.com with the essay attached. Each essay must include entrant’s full name in the upper right-hand corner of each page.

All essays must be received no later than March 31st, 2012, to be eligible for the contest.

3) Essays must be original and must not infringe or violate any law or the legal or equitable right of any person or entity, nor contain material that infringes or violates any personal property rights of others or that constitutes defamation, invasion of privacy, an infringement of the intellectual property rights of any third person, or is otherwise unlawful. By submitting an essay, each Contestant acknowledges his or her understanding of and compliance with these rules.

Hebets & McCallin reserves the right to disqualify any entry deemed inappropriate for publication, at their discretion. Essays will be judged by a judging panel. The decisions of the judges will be final.

4) One Contestant will win $150 for the first-prize winning essay, and another Contestant will win $50 for the second-prize winning essay. Additionally there will be 5 Contestants that will receive honorable mentions, but not cash prizes. Any entry, whether winning or not, may be published by Hebets & McCallin.

5) The likelihood of winning will depend upon the quality of all other entries as judged by the judging panel. Prizes are nontransferable. Competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Winners will be solely responsible for any federal, state or local taxes.

6) All essays and all rights to their publication become the property of Hebets & McCallin, which may use, edit and excerpt these entries for promotional or any other purpose, including placing them online (e.g., on www.hebetsmccallin.com) without attribution or compensation, additional or otherwise. Hebets & McCallin reserve the right to use prize winners’ names in any advertising or promotional materials relating to this competition without further notification, permission, or compensation to the winners.

7) Winners will be selected during the month of April, 2012, and will be notified by email. Winners will also be posted online at www.facebook.com/HebetsMcCallin. For the names of winners, send a separate, stamped self-addressed envelope by the end of June, 2012, to: Hebets & McCallin, 1777 S. Harrison St., Ste. 310, Denver, CO 80210. Requests received after June 30th, 2012, will not be answered.

National Law Review - two contests, two deadlines (February 21) (March 19)

NLR 2012 Law Student Writing Competition
Rules and Submission Guidelines

The National Law Review (NLR) consolidates practice-oriented legal analysis from a variety of sources for easy access by lawyers, paralegals, law students, business executives, insurance professionals, accountants, compliance officers, human resource managers, and other professionals who wish to better understand specific legal issues relevant to their work.

The NLR Law Student Writing Competition offers law students the opportunity to submit articles for publication consideration on the NLR Web site. No entry fee is required. Applicants can submit an unlimited number of entries each month.

• Winning submissions will be published according to specified dates.
• Entries will be judged and the top two to four articles chosen will be featured on the NLR homepage for a month. Up to 5 runner-up entries will also be posted in the NLR searchable database each month.
• Each winning article will be displayed accompanied by the student’s photo, biography, contact information, law school logo, and any copyright disclosure.
• All winning articles will remain in the NLR database for two years (subject to earlier removal upon request of the law school).

In addition, the NLR sends links to targeted articles to specific professional groups via e-mail. The NLR also posts links to selected articles on the “Legal Issues” or “Research” sections of various professional organizations’ Web sites. (NLR, at its sole discretion, maydistribute any winning entry in such a manner, but does not make any such guarantees nor does NLR represent that this is part of the prize package.)

Content Guidelines and Deadlines

Content Guidelines must be followed by all entrants to qualify. It is recommended that articles address the following monthly topic areas:

• March Topic Feature: Environmental and Energy, Insurance and Intellectual Property Law
• March Submission Deadline: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
• April Topic Feature: Tax, Bankruptcy and Restructuring and Healthcare Law
• April Submission Deadline: Monday, March 19, 2012

Articles covering current issues related to other areas of the law may also be submitted. Entries must be submitted via email to lawschools@natlawreview.com by 5:00 pm Central Standard Time on the dates indicated above.

Articles will be judged by NLR staff members on the basis of readability, clarity, organization, and timeliness. Tone should be authoritative, but not overly formal. Ideally, articles should be straightforward and practical, containinguseful information of interest to legal and business professionals. Judges reserve the right not to award any prizes if it is determined that no entries merit selection for publication by NLR. All judges’ decisions are final. All submissions are subject to the NLR’s Terms of Use.

More details here: http://www.natlawreview.com/NLR-law-student-writing-competition

Dec. 31 deadline, Construction Law, $2,000 and travel to Las Vegas

1. The competition is open to law students in good-standing who were enrolled in an ABA accredited law school during calendar year 2011.

2. Papers should address a topical issue of interest to the construction industry.

3. All authors must certify that all work submitted is the author's work product without substantial editing by others.

4. Papers prepared for law school credit are eligible for entry in the competition.

Articles prepared for law review, or publication elsewhere, are eligible for the competition. Joint papers are not acceptable.

5. If the Forum wishes to publish the winning article or articles in its various publications and the article has already been published or is planned for publication, the Forum will publish it as well if the other publication provides its consent.

6. The format of the articles must conform to either of the Forum's two publications, The Construction Lawyer (law journal format) or Under Construction (newsletter format with articles of 1000-2000 words). Format guidelines for The Construction Lawyer are posted on the Forum's website.

7. Articles must be in Microsoft Word format.

8. Article must conform to the Harvard Bluebook citation style.

9. The following information must be presented on the title page: title; author's name; address, telephone number, email address; and law school.

10. Articles must be submitted by e-mail to the following:

- Amanda Raible, American Bar Association, amanda.raible@americanbar.org

- Marilyn Klinger, Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold LLP, marilyn.klinger@sedgwicklaw.com

11. All entries must be emailed by December 31, 2011. Winners will be selected and notified in March 2012.

12. The author of the first place submittal will receive a cash prize of $2,000; travel expenses and registration to attend the 2012 annual meeting of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry in Las Vegas Nevada, where a first prize plaque will be presented; a one-year membership in the Forum and recognition in the Forum newsletter, Under Construction, and on the Forum's website. One or more authors may be determined a finalist and recognized with a plaque.

13. An impartial panel will judge the entries. Criteria for selection include creativity, clarity and precision of writing, strength of argument, novelty of subject, and quality of research.

Image source: wikipedia

Construction Law, $2,000 and travel to Las Vegas

Subject: 2011 Law Student Writing Competition -ABA Forum on the Construction Industry

I wanted to assure you had information about this Law Student Writing Competition sponsored by the American Bar Association's Construction Industry Forum.

Finalists receive recognition, and the winner receives a cash prize of $2,000; travel expenses and free registration to attend the 2012 annual meeting of the Forum in Las Vegas, a first prize plaque, a one-year membership in the Forum and recognition in its newsletter, its publication, Under Construction, and the Forum's website.

The odds are good, and the opportunity is wonderful.

For More Information


Competition Rules


image source: wikipedia

Human Rights and the Global Economy - September 15 deadline - $500 and expense paid travel to Boston

Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE)

Northeastern University School of Law

Annual PHRGE Student Writing Competition

The Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE) at Northeastern University School of Law announces the PHRGE Student Writing Competition to be held annually in conjunction with the PHRGE Institute on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE) works closely with scholars, advocates and institutions nationally and internationally to address issues of human rights and economic development. PHRGE is particularly engaged with the national and international movement to promote economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). As part of these efforts, each year, PHRGE hosts an Institute that brings activists, attorneys and scholars together to address a variety of ESCR issues.

On November 3-4, 2011, PHRGE will host an Institute on “Framing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Advocacy and Mobilization: Towards a Strategic Agenda in the U.S.” A successful frame helps organize facts and events to change the terms of the debate on a particular issue. Framing is not just a matter of “marketing” a message to the general public, but instead can and should play an integral role in building and sustaining a grassroots movement. This Institute will examine the strategic roles that distinctive frames can play in advocacy on ESCR before courts, legislatures and the media, as well as in mobilizing people to act on ESCR. The PHRGE Student Writing Competition will be held in conjunction with the PHRGE Institute.

Topic: Papers must address a topic within the broad field of economic, social and cultural rights within the United States.

Eligibility: Current JD students in the United States and 2011 JD graduates in the United States.

Length and Formatting: Submissions must be in English and between 8, 000 and 12,000 words including footnotes. The text of the paper must be in double-spaced 12-point font. Papers must conform to the Bluebook citation format. Submissions must be original work and not have been published anywhere else. Please include your law school and graduation date with your submission. Papers must be submitted electronically as word documents.

Judgment Criteria for Award: Papers will be judged on originality, the quality of writing and analysis, exhaustiveness of research and readiness for publication. All eligible submissions will first be reviewed by NU Law Journal staff members. The final papers from that process will then be reviewed by a panel composed of the PHRGE Directors and the editors of the NU Law Journal.

Deadline: Submissions due September 15^th 2011. Winner announced October 1^st 2011.

Prize: The winner of the writing competition will receive $500, as well as hotel accommodations and reasonable travel expenses (within the continental United States) to attend the ESCR Institute on “Framing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Advocacy and Mobilization: Towards a Strategic Agenda in the U.S.” to be held November 3-4, 2011, at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. The winner will also receive expedited consideration for publication in the Spring 2012 issue of the NU Law Journal, which will be a special symposium issue on the Institute.

For More Information: Contact Gillian MacNaughton, Executive Director, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston MA

(617) 373-4972 g.macnaughton@neu.edu

Submit Papers To: Jenny Bagnyuk, Program Coordinator, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston MA j.bagnyuk@neu.edu

Image source: wikipedia

June 1 deadline, 2 $1500 awards Employee Benefits Law

(Image: Will Simpson Open Source Photography)

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS COUNSEL

Writing Competition Rules


1. Eligibility/topics. Except as provided in (6) below, applicants must be enrolled full-time or part-time in law school between August 15, 2010 and August 15, 2011 and seeking a J.D. or a graduate law degree (e.g., L.L.M. or S.J.D.). Papers must deal with employee benefits topics. As an illustrative example, a paper might address legal issues involving health benefits, pensions, 401(k) plans, severance, executive compensation, claims, appeals, current or former spouses' or domestic partners' benefits, collectively-bargained benefits, benefits in bankruptcy, ERISA litigation, fiduciary obligations or the tax treatment of benefits/contributions.

a. Papers should not exceed 40 pages (double-spaced, in 12 point type, with an inch margin on each side), not including footnotes. Footnotes should be single spaced endnotes starting on a separate page.

b. Papers must be submitted as email attachments to peter.kelly@bcbsa.com and should be submitted as Word or pdf documents. No information identifying the author or law school should be included in the text, the footnotes or the filename. That information, an address, a telephone number and enrollment status information should be provided in the email message.

c. Submissions may include papers prepared for class assignments, law journals or other purposes, as well as those written especially for the Competition.

d. Student papers submitted for publication in law reviews or other law school journals or periodicals but not yet published are eligible for the Competition, provided that (i) the version submitted for the Competition does not reflect any changes made to the paper after submission of the manuscript to any publication and (ii) the College receives any consents necessary to publish.

2. Selection of winners. Winning papers will be selected by the Writing Competition Committee based on the factors they deem relevant. Among other factors, the Committee will consider: (i) depth and creativity of legal analysis; (ii) thoroughness of legal research; (iii) organization and writing style; (iv) difficulty of subject matter; and (v) consideration of employee benefits policy implications. The determination of the Committee is final. It is anticipated that winners will be notified by August 15, 2011, or shortly thereafter.

3. Publication of winning article(s). The College will use its best efforts to arrange for publication of the winning papers in the BNA Pension and Benefits Reporter, the BNA Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal or other professional publications, subject to receiving any necessary consents from the author and any other journal. In addition, the winning papers will be distributed to the Fellows of the College.

4. Prizes. Cash prizes will be awarded for up to two winning papers. The College may, in its discretion, decide to split prizes, to award additional prizes or to award fewer than two awards.

5. Deadline. Papers must be submitted in the manner described in paragraph 1(b) above and must be received no later than Midnight Central Time on June 1, 2011.

6. Disclaimer. The College disclaims responsibility for any failure to give due consideration to any submission due to any email or other electronic transmission, storage or archival errors, regardless of the cause. However, the Committee may waive the eligibility requirements applicable to any student whose properly submitted paper was not afforded due consideration on account of such an error in a prior year's contest.

Questions concerning the Competition should be directed to Peter Kelly, Chair of the ACEBC Writing Competition Committee at peter.kelly@bcbsa.com.

Image: Will Simpson Open Source Photography

Finals, Mind and Body

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 the end of the finals period 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.

***

Two helpful web sites:

Top Ten Happy Foods

Finals Coming Up: Your Body Needs Good Nutrition