Law School Newspaper Award

The 2023-2024 National Award period is now closed. All Nominations must be approved by the Law School Dean or Associate/Assistant Dean and received by the ABA Law Student Division on or before 12 noon (CDT), Friday, April 26 via the Electronic Nomination Form.

The award materials are available in the nomination packet.

See each year's winners of the award in our awards archive.

The Newspaper Awards recognize outstanding law school newspapers. Open to all law school newspapers sponsored or published by student-run organizations at ABA-approved law schools.  

Please carefully read and follow the instructions below before submitting your nomination.  

Criteria

Generally speaking, a newspaper is a print or electronic publication that is not labeled a magazine and meets at least one of the following criteria:

• is officially labeled a “newspaper” or has “news” in its name;
• is printed on newsprint or newspaper-style stock; and/or
• is published or electronically distributed more than once a month.

Criteria for newspaper entries include staffing, organization, length of existence, budget, frequency of publication, writing, reporting, editing, design, and relevance to law students.

Nomination Eligibility: All nominees must be official law school newspapers from an ABA approved law school. Alumni publications and scholarly journals are not eligible. Each law school may submit one entry only for the Newspaper Award. Nominations must have been published between Friday, April 28, 2023 and Friday, April 26, 2024.

Nomination Procedure: Nominees will be evaluated based on the nominator's ability to effectively summarize the reasons why the nominee is deserving of the award based on the criteria outlined.

Award nominations must contain the following components. Nominations received without all of these components will be disqualified.

Part A – Contact Information 

You will be required to provide accurate contact information for the following individuals: 

1. Newspaper Nominee 
2. Nominator 
3. Law School SBA President 
4. Law School ABA Representative 
5. Law School Dean 

Part B – Newspaper Nominee Background Information 

You will be required to provide the following background information regarding the nominee: 

1. Newspaper’s total 2023-2024 budget 
2. 2023-2024 law school enrollment 
3. Newspaper’s circulation

Part C – Narrative Questions (1,250 Word Limit)  

In the narrative portion of the Nomination Packet, you will be required to answer the following questions about your newspaper nominee using a maximum of 1,250 words:

1. Staffing / Organization: Please describe your publishing board organization, including the number of people who work or volunteer on staff to produce the newspaper.
2. Editing / Design: Describe how many people volunteer or work as editors or designers.
3. Writing and Reporting: Describe your process for article development, how many writers/reporters are on staff, and if you hire freelance writers.
4. Equipment / Technology Used: Please describe the kind of printing equipment used to produce the newspaper (if known) and whether produced in-house or through an outside vendor. Identify the design / layout technology (e.g., software) used to produce the newspaper and whether it is done in-house or through an outside vendor.
5. Length of Existence: How long has the newspaper been in existence?
6. Budget / Frequency of Publication:
   1. How much money is allocated to produce the newspaper?
   2. What is the funding source (student fees, student organization, SBA, etc.)?
   3. How often is this newspaper published (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.)?
7. Accomplishments:
   1. Detail any awards the newspaper has received in the past year.
   2. Describe how specific reporting has brought about changes at your law school.

Part D – Nominator’s Certification 

As the nominator, you will be required to certify that: 

1. The information contained in the Nomination Packet is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge. 
2. The narrative answering the questions in Part C contains no more than 1,250 words. 

Part E – Dean’s Certification 

In order for your nomination to be considered by the ABA Law Student Division Awards Selection Committee, the Law School Dean or Assistant Dean must affirm your nomination by signing Part E of the Nomination Packet. Nominators are responsible for completing the Nomination Form in its entirety and obtaining the dean's signature certifying his/her approval of the nomination.

Submission Procedure: Once you have obtained the Dean's certification, complete the Nomination form and attach or send twelve (12) copies of two (2) different complete issues of the nominated newspaper. Submissions must show proof of publication during the eligibility period.

Electronic Publication Requirement: Electronic publications shall submit entries via a hyperlink, email attachment, or CD, presenting two issues of their school’s publication and be required to meet the other requirements for being nominated for the Newspaper Award.

Letters of Support: Letters of support will not be accepted.

Nomination Deadline: To be considered for the Law School Newspaper Award, the nomination form and required supplemental materials must be received by the ABA Law Student Division no later than 12 noon CST Friday, April 26, 2024. This is a strict liability deadline requirement. No exceptions will be granted. Entries not accompanied by the appropriate number of copies of supplemental materials will be disqualified. Entries received by the Law Student Division after the Friday, April 26, 2024 deadline will not be accepted.

For questions about completing the Newspaper Nomination Form, contact the ABA Law Student Division at [email protected]

Announcement of Winners: Award winners will be announced in Summer 2024. The ABA Law Student Division reserves the right not to present this award in any given year.