American Bar Association Health Law Section: Annual Health Law Student Writing Competition
- Sponsor: American Bar Association Health Law Section
- Topic: Guidelines and Criteria for the 2024 ABA Health Law Student Writing Competition state: "[A] substantive paper on any aspect of health law. Awards will be based upon authorship of superior literary effort that advances and serves the interests and understanding of an emerging issue in health law. Topic selection is one of the criteria judged."
- Format in 2024 Competition: "The paper should be an original, practical examination of issues (rather than a recitation of existing research) related to the student’s topic. Papers should either address a topic that was not previously addressed in the past two to three years in The Health Lawyer or expand on or present an alternative or new theory, angle, or perspective on a topic that was previously addressed in the journal. For a list of articles published in The Health Lawyer, go to: ambar.org/healthlawyer." "Papers should follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation style, and be a minimum of 20 typewritten, double-spaced, letter-size pages of text (or not less than 5,000 words of text) plus appropriate endnotes for a paper of publishable quality. Papers may not exceed 35 pages inclusive of endnotes."
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition include: "[O]pen to any law student in good standing and currently enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school, over the age of 21 and who is a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. Directors, officers and employees of the ABA and their immediate family or household members are not eligible."
- Prizes in 2024 Competition: "The first-place award is a $500 honorarium, consideration for publication in The Health Lawyer, the Health Law Section’s award-winning flagship journal, and attendance at the ABA’s Emerging Issues in Healthcare conference, which includes the cost of economy-class airfare, at ABA rates, hotel for two nights and a $50 per diem for two days. If the first-place recipient is unable to attend the conference, the $500 honorarium and potential publication of the article will be the sole awards." "A second-place winning paper will be named if deemed appropriate by the ABA Health Law Section. The second-place winner’s paper will be considered for publication in The Health Lawyer, but no cash or travel award will be presented to the second-place winner. Additional runners-up may be named at the discretion of the ABA Health Law Section. Additional awards, if any, will be recognized in The Health Lawyer and may be published in the journal."
- Deadline for submission: Each contestant must send one copy of the paper, resume and interest statement via email by 12:00 p.m. (Central Standard Time), December 27, 2024, to: Alyssa Ewing, Director, ABA Health Law Section at alyssa.ewing@americanbar.org. Upon receipt, the ABA Health Law Section will assign each paper a random number to ensure name and law school affiliation anonymity throughout the review process.
[Ninth] Annual AUWCL National Health Law Writing Competition
- Sponsor: Health Law and Policy Program, American University Washington College of Law
- Topic in 2024 Competition was: "Papers must address and analyze health law and/or food/drug/device law issues. Papers that analyze antitrust or tax laws, employee benefits and/or labor considerations in the health care industry are eligible. By contrast, a paper that focuses mainly on analysis of intellectual property or environmental laws/statutes, even if relating to health or the health care industry, will not be eligible."
- Format requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Paper" "Page length between a minimum of 15 and maximum of 25 pages (exclusive of the endnotes)"
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Current 2L, 3L, and 4L (part-time) JD and LLM students enrolled in a U.S. law school at the time of paper submission are eligible to participate."
- Prizes in 2024 Competition were: "First Place: $1,500. Second Place: $1,000. Third Place: $500." "Certificates of Participation will be awarded to all participants."
- Deadline for submission in 2024 Competition was: May 5, 2024.
[Fourth] Annual Health Law and Anti-Racism Graduate Student Writing Competition
- Sponsor: American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics (ASLME)
- Topic in 2024 Competition was: "[P]apers must focus specifically on health law in the context of anti-racism. If you have questions about the suitability of your topic, please ask." Note: This ASLME web page provides "a non-exhaustive list of potential paper topics."
- Format requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Papers should be between 15-20 double-spaced pages, including references (endnotes, not footnotes), and should include an abstract of no more than 250 words. Submissions may be adapted from papers submitted for course credit and will be judged on the basis of their originality, relevance, nexus to both health law and anti-racism, clarity, and potential for scholarly impact."
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Current graduate students in any field are invited to participate, including those graduating in Spring 2024, even if graduation occurs before the submission deadline. ASLME membership is not required. Co-authored submissions are welcome (up to 3 co-authors), provided all co-authors are individually eligible."
- Prize(s) in 2024 Competition: "The winning paper(s) may be invited for publication in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, if not already slated for publication elsewhere. Papers may be required to undertake edits prior to publication. The 1st Prize winner(s) will also be provided with a 1-year ASLME membership and a prize of $500."
- Deadline for submission in 2024 Competition was: July 1, 2024.
H. Thomas Austern Writing Competition
- Sponsor: Food and Drug Law Institute
- Topic in in 2024 Competition was: "Paper topics are limited to FDA and regulated agencies’ laws and regulations. Topical focus should be on FDA-regulated industries: food, drugs, animal drugs, biologics, cosmetics, diagnostics, dietary supplements, medical devices, veterinary devices, cannabis, or tobacco and nicotine products."
- Additional information in 2024 Competition included: "We do accept submissions that have been submitted to other writing contests. However, articles must be unpublished at the time of judging in order to remain in consideration for the competition. Articles that have been accepted for forthcoming publication will still be eligible for placement in the competition but will not be considered for publication in the Food and Drug Law Journal. Published papers will be disqualified from the Austern Competition." "We encourage students interested in submitting to the Austern Writing Competition to apply for our complimentary Student Membership Program. This program is available to full-time students of accredited universities and provides access to member benefits as well as student-only discounts and programs."
- Format requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Papers shall not exceed 100 pages (assuming double spacing, one-inch margins)." "Students will submit an abstract."
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Students currently enrolled in a JD program at any of the nation’s ABA-accredited law schools and 2023–2024 academic year graduates are eligible to participate."
- Prizes in 2024 Competition were: "Winners are awarded: $750 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third. Top papers will be considered for publication in the Food and Drug Law Journal."
- Deadline for submission in 2024 Competition was: June 3, 2024.
Health Law Writing Competition (annual)
- Sponsor: Epstein Becker Green
- Topic in 2024 Competition was: "Papers must address an issue relating to health law. Papers may address traditional areas of the law as applied to the health care field (e.g., antitrust, tax or corporate) or may address areas of law unique to the health care field (e.g., fraud and abuse, managed care, Medicare/Medicaid, clinical trials, telehealth/telemedicine)."
- Format requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Scholarly papers" "[P]apers must be 30 pages or less, excluding table of contents and cover pages, if any."
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition included: "The Health Law Writing Competition is open to submissions written by J.D. and L.L.M. degree candidates who are currently attending a U.S. law school or who attended a U.S. law school during the school year ending in May/June 2023, and who have a U.S. Social Security number and a U.S. mailing address."
- Prizes in 2024 Competition were: "Cash prizes will be awarded as follows for the three best papers: First Place: $7,500. Second Place: $4,000. Third Place: $1,000."
- Deadline for submission in 2024 Competition was: May 17, 2024.
Hirsh Student Writing Competition in Legal Medicine (annual) - In future, check this website for information about a 2025 Competition.
- Sponsor: American College of Legal Medicine
- Topic of 2024 Competition was: "May deal with any aspect of legal medicine, including medical licensure; regulation of the profession; business aspects of medical practice; liability of physicians, hospitals, & managed care organizations; ethics; bio-pharmaceutical/medical devices; public health law; physician-patient relationships; care of special patients; food and drug law; medical research; forensic science; or the history of legal medicine." "Must contain the entirely original work of the individual contestant." "Can have been submitted for academic credit but cannot have been submitted for publication." "May relate to other work done by the author."
- Format requirements in 2024 Competition included: "There is no limit in the length of articles for submission - there is no minimum or maximum words to join the competition."
- Eligibility requirements in 2024 Competition included: "Contestants must have received a baccalaureate degree or equivalent from an accredited institution and must be currently enrolled in an accredited medical, law, dental, nursing, podiatric, or other health-related program in the United States or Canada."
- Prizes in 2024 Competition were: "The writer of the winning paper will be presented the Hirsh Award and will receive $1,000.00, round trip economy airfare to San Diego, 1-night hotel accommodations during the conference, and conference registration to attend the ACLM 2024 Annual Conference where they will have an opportunity to present their paper, receive their award, and meet with experts in the field of legal medicine. The winning paper will be published in The Journal of Legal Medicine, and all other papers entered for the Hirsh Award will receive consideration for publication in The Journal of Legal Medicine. The second-place winner will receive $500.00. The third-place winner will receive $250.00. The top three winners will receive complimentary one-year membership in the American College of Legal Medicine and will be invited to serve on the 2025 Student Awards Committee."
- Deadline for submission was extended to: February 8, 2024.
Larry M. Simonsmeier Writing Award
- Sponsor: American Society for Pharmacy Law
- Topic in 2024 was: "Papers related to Pharmacy Law ...." "The American Society for Pharmacy Law (ASPL) is a nationwide organization with the purposes of: (i) furthering knowledge in the law related to pharmacists, pharmacies, the provision of pharmaceutical care, the manufacturing and distribution of drugs, and other food, drug, and medical device policy issues ("Pharmacy Law"); (ii) communicating accurate legal educational information; and (iii) providing education opportunities for pharmacists, attorneys, and others who are interested in Pharmacy Law."
- Format & Eligibility requirements for 2024 Award included: "Papers related to Pharmacy Law, as defined above, published in or accepted for publication in any English-language peer-reviewed journal (including law reviews) during the period from January 2022 through December 2023 are eligible. Interested parties are invited to nominate published papers written by themselves or other authors. Authors may submit manuscripts that are in press."
- 2024 Award was: "The 2024 Award includes an honorarium plus support for travel to the ASPL Developments in Pharmacy Law Seminar XXXV in Phoenix, AZ, November 7-10, 2024."
- Deadline for submission in 2024 was: June 30, 2024.
Roy Snell Health Care Regulatory and Compliance Writing Competition
- Sponsor: Mitchell Hamline School of Law & "The Roy Snell Health Care Regulatory & Compliance Writing Competition is made possible in part by generous support from the Health Care Compliance Association."
- Topic: "[T]his demanding competition requires students to analyze a hypothetical fact pattern (the Competition Problem) involving an organization facing multifaceted health care regulatory/compliance matters and draft two separate internal memoranda to two different recipients within the organization."
- Format in the 2024 Competition was: "Students must analyze the facts presented in the Competition Problem, identify any and all regulatory/compliance concerns, and advise the recipient of the memorandum."
- Eligibility requirements in the 2024 Competition included: "The competition is open to all full and part-time law students in J.D. programs who have completed their 1L year. The competition is also open to any student currently enrolled in a Compliance Certification Board (CCB) accredited program."
- Prizes for the 2024 Competition were: "The top three winners will receive a monetary prize for their work and paid registration for the 2025 HCCA Annual Compliance Institute (valued at over $1,500). They will also receive up to $1,500 in travel and conference-related expenses." "1st Place — $5,000 cash prize. 2nd Place — $3,000 cash prize. 3rd Place — $1,500 cash prize."
- Deadlines: Registration for the 2024 competition is closed. Registration deadline was: Jan. 31, 2024. Submissions deadline was: March 13, 2024. "The 2024 competition will run from Thursday, February 1st until Wednesday, March 13th, 2024. All registered students will be sent the Competition Problem after registration closes. They will have six weeks to read it, and write and submit their memorandum and PowerPoint submissions."
