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Writing Competitions for Law Students: Real Property Law

Tip

Sponsors/facilitators of student writing competitions provide more detailed instructions and rules at their websites.  Students need to review the information and rules available at these websites.  

Real Property Law

2024 Affordable Housing & Community Development Law Student Legal Writing Competition

  • Sponsor: Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law of the American Bar Association
  • Topic: "Entries should address any legal issue regarding affordable housing, fair housing and/or community development law."
  • Format: "Entries must be original, unpublished work.  Any relevant article or essay may be submitted for the competition, including writing submitted for academic credit.  Submissions must not have been previously published in any media.  Only one essay, per competition theme, may be submitted by each entrant."  "Entries should be between 25-50 double-spaced pages, with 1-inch margins, in Times New Roman, 12 pt. size Font."
  • Eligibility: "Open to all law students who are at the time of entry, (a) enrolled in a law school that is at the time of entry, ABA Accredited, (b) member of the ABA and the Forum, (c) at least 21 years old, and (d) U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Employees of the ABA, its respective affiliates, and immediate family or household members of such employees are not eligible for the Competition."
  • Prize: "A single winning entry, as judged by the selection committee, will be eligible to receive a prize of: (a) a $1,000 cash prize; (b) a round-trip coach airfare; and (c) lodging at the conference hotel."  "At the sole discretion of the Sponsor, the winning essay may be selected for publication in the Journal [ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law]."  "Please note: The Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law must have the first right of publication of the selected essay."
  • Deadline: "All entries must be emailed by March 21, 2024, 11:59 pm Central."

American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law 2024 Writing Competition

  • Sponsor: American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law
  • Topic: "Papers should address a topical issue of interest to the construction industry."
  • Note: "All authors must certify that all work submitted is the author’s work product without substantial editing by others.  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 as well.  Papers written by more than one author (i.e., co-authors) are not acceptable."  "Law professors may submit their students’ submission directly to The Forum for consideration."
  • Format: "The format of the articles should 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 and Under Construction are posted on The Forum's website."
  • Eligibility: "The competition is open to any student age 21 years or older enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school during the academic years 2023 and 2024 of the competition who is a legal resident of the United States.  Directors, officers and employees of the ABA and their immediate family or household members are not eligible."
  • Prize(s): "The winner will receive: A cash prize of $1,000.  Travel expenses not to exceed $2,000 (to include: roundtrip economy-class airfare not to exceed $650, ground transportation to/from airport and hotel, hotel lodging for 3 nights within the designated ABA room block, and member registration (in-person or virtually) to attend the 2024 Fall Meeting).  A first prize plaque at the meeting.  A one-year membership in The Forum.  Recognition in The Forum newsletter, Under Construction, the Forum Flash, and on The Forum's website.  One or more authors may be determined a finalist and recognized with a plaque and recognition."
  • Deadline: "Entries must be submitted by e-mail on or before June 30, 2024 by 11:59 p.m. (central)."

American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law 2024 Law Student Writing Contest

  • Sponsor: American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section
  • Topic: "To enter, submit an essay on a current topic dealing with real property, trust and estate law." (See contest rules and entry form for additional useful information.)
  • Format: "Original essay."  "Essays must not exceed 50 pages of double-spaced typed text, including footnotes."
  • Eligibility: "Open to any law school student in good standing, over the age of 21, who is currently attending an ABA-accredited law school within the United States and its possessions, and who is a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States.  Officers, employees, and agents of the ABA and their immediate family or household members are not eligible to enter or win."
  • Prizes: "The first-place winner will receive $2,500 cash, a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Miami School of Law’s Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning OR Robert Traurig-Greenberg Traurig Graduate Program in Real Property Development for the 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 academic year, a one-year free membership in the Section, and free round-trip economy-class airfare and weekend accommodations to attend the Section’s 37th Annual RPTE National CLE Conference, May 1-2, 2025 in Las Vegas (airfare, hotel accommodations, and luncheon ticket are valued at approximately $1,000). The first-place winner will also be announced in an upcoming issue of Probate & Property, the Section’s magazine, and RPTE eReport, the Section’s electronic newsletter. The second-place winner will receive $1,500 cash, one-year free membership in the Section, and will be announced in Probate & Property and eReport. The third-place winner will receive $1,000 cash, one-year membership in the Section, and will be announced in Probate & Property and eReport....Any taxes are the responsibility of the winners." 
  • Potentially useful links: University of Miami School of Law's Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning (LL.M.) + Robert Traurig-Greenberg Traurig LL.M. in Real Property Development + University of Miami School of Law, LL.M. Admission Standards. 
  • Deadline: "No later than May 31, 2024, 11:59 pm Central Time."

New York State Bar Association Real Property Law Section: Annual Student Writing Competition

  • Sponsor: Real Property Law Section of the New York State Bar Association
  • Topic: "[T]he topic of the article must relate to real property law (which term shall be broadly construed and includes, without limitation, landlord tenant, real estate financing, land use, housing, condominiums and cooperatives, construction, and environmental topics affecting real estate)."
  • Format: "[A]n original, unpublished manuscript"  "The manuscript should follow [Bluebook] cite format (using endnotes rather than footnotes) and be a minimum of 3,000 words (there is no maximum)."
  • Eligibility requirements include: "[O]pen to all students who are candidates for the JD or LLM degree at an accredited law school in New York State during the year in which the article is submitted."
  • Prize(s): "The student article that is judged best, provided it is of publishable quality and otherwise meets the criteria of the Competition, will be designated as “best article” and receive a cash prize of $500.  At the discretion of the editors, the best article will also be published in the NYSBA New York Real Property Law Journal, which is the Section’s official publication.  In addition, one or more other student articles that are deemed worthy of recognition, provided they otherwise meet the criteria of the Competition, may be designated as “outstanding submissions.”
  • Deadline: "Submissions must be made by no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time on March 1 of each year." 

Smith-Babcock-Williams Student Writing Competition (annual) + Description of last year's 2023 Competition

  • Sponsor: Planning & Law Division of the American Planning Association
  • Topic of 2023 Competition was: "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."
  • Eligibility requirement in 2023 Competition was: "The Competition is open to both current students and recent graduates (less than five years)."
  • Format in 2023 Competition was: "Entries can include articles written for academic journal or law review publication, long essays, or shorter essays (at least 2,000 words)."  "Each year, many of the entries appear to have been prepared initially for courses or seminars."
  • Prizes in 2023 Competition were: "[T]he winning entry will be awarded a prize of $3,000, the second-place paper will receive a prize of $1,000, and one honorable mention paper will receive $500.  All three winning entries will be published in the semi-annual newsletter of the Planning and Law Division.  Depending on the format of the winning entry and the interest of the author, the Competition Committee may also work with the winner to place the article in a journal or coordinate and present a Division webinar.  In 2021, a winning entry on vacant properties was the foundation of a webinar.  Last year’s winner is preliminarily slated for publication in The Urban Lawyer."
  • Deadline for submission in 2023 Competition was: June 30, 2023.  A March 4, 2024 email reply stated that information about the 2024 Competition "will be available on or before April 16 [2024] (The American Planning Association’s National Conference) with an end of June deadline similar to last year’s."  "Details will be available at https://www.planning.org/divisions/planningandlaw/writingcompetition."