2019 JAMES BOSKEY DISPUTE RESOLUTION ESSAY COMPETITION
PURPOSE: The purpose of the competition is to create greater interest in the field of dispute resolution among law students.
COMPETITION PRIZE: One prize of $1,000 dollars will be awarded for the best entry as judged by the Boskey Essay Committee, comprised of representatives from the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. In addition, the winning essay will be considered for possible publication in Dispute Resolution Magazine. Winner will be required to submit a completed W-9 prior to receiving the award. Winner is responsible for all taxes associated with the award.
ELIGIBILITY: The competition is open to anyone who was a full-time or part- time J.D. law student at an ABA-accredited law school during the 2018-19 academic year. Officers, directors and employees of the American Bar Association and their immediate household and family members are ineligible to enter the competition.
Previously published essays are not eligible. If a student’s essay has been accepted for publication, the student must inform the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution at the time of initial submission to the competition. If the student’s essay is accepted for publication after submission to the essay competition but before a decision is reached by the Essay Committee, the student must inform the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution of this acceptance immediately. By entering, participants agree that the ABA shall have the right of first publication of the winning essay. Only one entry per participant. Winner will be required to sign a standard publication agreement if winning entry is selected for publication.
OTHER: By entering, participants agree that the decision of the judges is final. ABA is not responsible for any error, computer malfunction, or failed transmission.
AUTHORSHIP: Each entry shall be the original work of a single individual. The ideas and work reflected by each entry must be the author’s own. The author must perform all of the key tasks of identifying the topic, researching it, analyzing it, formulating positions and arguments, and writing and revising the paper. The author may inform another of the progress made in performing these tasks and accept a reasonable amount of responsive advice from academicians or practitioners in the field, but the student must avoid undue collaboration. For example, the author may obtain a professor’s opinion that a proposed topic is a good choice, or that a detailed outline should be reorganized, or that a first draft unwisely omits to cover a subtopic or to raise and respond to criticisms of the author’s premise. The author must limit the amount of such advice sought or received so that the final entry truly reflects the author’s own ideas and work and not that of another.
SUBJECT MATTER AND LENGTH: The essay may address any aspect of dispute resolution practice, theory or research that the contestant chooses. Essays must be limited to 15-30 typewritten pages, including footnotes or endnotes. The text of the essay must be double-spaced, with twelve-point font and one-inch margins.
JUDGING: The format of this competition has been selected to stimulate creativity of thought and research. Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: clarity of the theme or thesis presented, significance of the topic to the field of conflict resolution, originality and creativity of topic treatment, quality of analysis, quality of research and authority provided, and technical quality of writing, including organization, grammar, syntax and form. The entries will be judged anonymously by members of the Boskey Essay Committee, consisting of representatives from the ABA. The winning selection(s) will be made by the Essay Committee and approved by the Chair of the ABA Section. The ABA Section staff will notify the winner(s) of their selection by August 16, 2019. If the winner does not respond within 10 business days of notification, or notification is returned as undeliverable, the winner forfeits all rights to participate or receive the prize, and an alternate winner may be selected. The ABA Section reserves the right not to award any prize if it is determined that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit selection.
ENTRY DATE AND DEADLINE: Entries for the competition must be received by Friday, June 14, 2019.
ENTRY PROCEDURE: The entry should be e-mailed as an attached file, in PDF format, to Linda Seely at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. Please note that the identifying information listed below (such as student name, law school name, etc.) should NOT be written or located anywhere on the submitted paper itself (e.g., not in a cover sheet, in the text, footnotes, headers, or anywhere else). This identifying information should be included ONLY in the body of the e-mail written when submitting the PDF file of the paper to Linda Seely. The subject line of the e-mail should state, “BOSKEY COMPETITION SUBMISSION 2019,” and the body of that e-mail should include the following information:
- Student’s name
- Law school
- Expected date of graduation
- Faculty advisor(s)
- E-mail address
- Phone number
The body of the e-mail should also contain the following statement:
“I understand that the selection of the winning entry is the sole responsibility of the Section of Dispute Resolution of the American Bar Association, and acknowledge that I have been provided with a copy of the competition procedures to which I agree. In the event I am selected as the winner, the American Bar Association shall have the right of first publication in print and electronic formats. I may be invited to publish with Dispute Resolution Magazine.”
The staff of the American Bar Association 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 Boskey Essay Committee members or the Chair of the ABA Section conducting the judging. Contestants will receive confirmation of their entry. The winner(s) will be notified by electronic mail of their selection by August 16, 2019.