PUBLISHED:December 29, 2009

Fifth Annual "Endangered Environmental Laws" Student Writing Competition

Fifth Annual "Endangered Environmental Laws" Student Writing Competition (2009-10), Co-sponsored by The Environmental Law Institute, The American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, and The National Association of Environmental Law Societies

The U.S. Constitution has long been interpreted by the courts and understood by most Americans to support comprehensive environmental protections. However, arguments questioning the constitutional legitimacy of environmental law have continued to gain traction in the federal courts. In reponse to this trend, ELI, ABA/SEER, and NAELS invite law students to submit papers exploring current issues of constitutional environmental law.

Award: $2,000 cash prize and an offer of publication in the Environmental Law Reporter.

Topic: Any topic addressing recent developments or trends in U.S. environmental law that have a significant constitutional or "federalism" component. (Duke Law Students: Please visit the Office of Student Affairs for additional information about sample topics.)

Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in law school (U.S. or abroad) are eligible, including students who will graduate in Spring or Summer 2010. Any relevant article, case, comment, note or essay may be submitted, including writing submitted for academic credit. Jointly authored pieces are eligible only if all authors are students and consent to submit. Previously published pieces, or pieces that are slated for publication, are ineligible.

Deadline: Entries must be received no later than 5:00 PM ET on April 12, 2010. Email essays (and questions) to Louise Yeung at yeung@eli.org. You will receive a confirmation by e-mail.

Submission Requirements:
1) Cover page. This separate page must include:
a) Title;
b) Author's name, year in law school, and expected graduation date (to facilitate impartial judging, the author's name and law school must NOT appear anywhere in the essay, other than the cover page);
c) Law school name and address;
d) Author's permanent and school mailing address, email address and phone number (IMPORTANT: indicate effective dates for any contact information subject to change);
e) Abstract (limited to 100 words) describing the piece;
f) Certification that the article has not been published and is not slated for future publication (while authors may submit their articles to other competitions, acceptance for publication elsewhere will disqualify an entry from further consideration); and
g) Statement as to where the author(s) learned about this competition.

2) Format. Submissions may be of any length up to a maximum of 50 pages (including footnotes), in a double-spaced, 8.5 x 11-inch page format with 12-point font (10-point for footnotes). Citation style must conform to the Bluebook. Submissions must be made by email attachment in Microsoft Word format, with the cover page as a separate attachment.

3) Criteria and Publication: The prize will be awarded to the student work that, in the judgment of ELI, ABA/SEER and NAELS, best advances the state of scholarship and informs the debate on a current topic of constitutional environmental law. ELI reserves the right to determine that no submission will receive the prize. While only one cash prize is available, ELI may decide to extend multiple offers of publication in the Environmental Law Reporter.

For more about ELI and its Endangered Environmental Laws Program, including past writing competitions, please visit www.eli.org and www.endangeredlaws.org. Information about ABA/SEER may be found at www.abanet.org/environ/. Information about NAELS may be found at www. naels.org.