Topic
Discuss any topic relating to administrative law.

Eligibility
The competition is open to currently enrolled students of ABA accredited law schools who are also members of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. The essay must be the student’s original work, and can include papers submitted for a graded law school course, law review notes and comments, or articles written specifically for the Award.  The paper may be prepared to satisfy a course requirement or for other academic credit. However, the essay must be the work of the submitting student without substantial editorial input from others. Co-authored papers are ineligible. Only one essay may be submitted per entrant.

Format
Essays must not exceed 40 double-spaced pages (exclusive of footnotes and end-notes). The text of the essay must be double-spaced, with twelve-point font and one-inch margins. Depending upon the type of article submitted, at the discretion of the Section, the winning student may be asked to write a shorter piece in the style of the Administrative and Regulatory Law News articles rather than law review style. Entrants are encouraged to review past copies of the News prior to drafting their submissions. Citations must be embedded in text or in footnote form. Cites must conform to the current edition of the Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook).

Entry Procedure
Each submission must include a SEPARATE COVER PAGE with the entrant’s name, law school, year of study, mailing and email address, and phone number. The contestant’s name and other identifying markings, such as school name, MAY NOT appear on any copy of the submitted essay.

Submit a digital copy in Word format to Section Director Anne Kiefer (anne.kiefer@americanbar.org).  Entries must be received by 7 pm Eastern time on April 1, 2012.

Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice staff will assign a random number to each entry and record this number on all copies of each essay submitted. Neither the contestant’s identity nor his/her academic institution will be known to the selection committee.

By submitting an entry in this contest, the entrant grants the ABA and the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice permission to edit and publish the entry in the Administrative and Regulatory Law News or The Administrative Law Review. Publication in either source will be at the sole discretion of the Editors and Editorial Boards of these publications upon determination by the Section that the article merits publication. Please direct any questions about the contest to the Section Director at anne.kiefer@americanbar.org.

Judging

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

Creativity and clarity of the proposal or thesis
Organization
Quality of the analysis and research
Grammar, syntax and form