Purpose:
The Crane Writing Competition is designed to encourage outstanding student scholarship at the intersection of law and medicine or law and the social sciences that promotes an understanding, furthers the development of legal rights and protections, and improves the lives of those with disabilities.
Eligibility:
The Crane Writing Competition is open to currently enrolled law students (J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D.), medical students, and doctoral candidates in related fields who attend an accredited graduate program of study in the United States.
Topic:
Submitted papers may be on any topic relating to disability law including, legal issues arising with respect to employment, government services and programs, public accommodations, education, higher education, housing, and health care.
Judging:
Submissions will be judged anonymously by an independent panel of experts. Judging will be on the basis of the following criteria:
- Thesis originality
- Topic complexity
- Research quality
- Organization and analysis
- Writing quality
Prizes:
- The winner of the competition will receive a $1,500 cash prize and the Thomas Jefferson Law Review (TJLR) will consider the paper for publication under the TJLR’s editorial standards.
- Two second place winners will each receive a $1,000 cash prize.
Preference for these additional winners will be given to submissions from disciplines not represented by the grand prize winner. By submitting a paper to this competition, the author grants Thomas Jefferson School of Law the right to edit, as necessary, and publish that paper in the TJLR.
Rules:
The written submission shall be an original work of a single author not previously published or under consideration for publication. The work must be produced in conjunction with course work toward a degree or under the supervision of a faculty member at the student’s home institution. Only one submission may be submitted per author.
Format:
Submissions should be appropriate for law review publication. Citations should conform to the citation style most frequently used by the student’s discipline. For example, law student manuscripts should employ the current edition of The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation. All submissions should be in Microsoft Word, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper. Footnotes should be single-spaced. One inch margins are required. Pages should be numbered. A cover page must be provided that includes: author name; contact information; school; and the academic degree currently pursued by the student. Submissions must not exceed 35 pages in length, including citations, any figures or tables, and the cover page. The paper title should appear on the first full page of text. Identifying information, including student name, should not appear on any page other than the cover page.
Deadlines:
All submissions must be submitted electronically. All entries must be received by midnight, Pacific Standard Time, January 15, 2017. Winning submissions will be announced by April 15, 2017.
For additional details, see the website.
