publication
The goal of this Competition is to encourage students interested in academic writing and the field of Environmental Law to write on a topic that interests them and to give those students an opportunity to be published in an academic journal. To achieve this goal, the Competition is open to any law student who, at the time of entry, is enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school during the 2020-2021 academic year. Submissions for the Competition should demonstrate original thought and ingenuity on an issue of significance relating to the field of Environmental Law.
Submissions must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant. Any submitted work may have been previously completed for academic credit, but may not have been previously published in any form of media. Submissions must be made by e-mail on or before September 30, 2020, by 11:59 p.m. (EST) to law-belj@buffalo.edu. Entrants wishing to be considered as part of an early application period may make their submission on or before August 28, 2020, by 11:59 p.m. (EST). Winners will be published in Volume 28, Issue 1 of the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal, which we anticipate will be published in January of 2021.
Submissions must be formatted on 8-1/2 x 11-inch paper format, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, 12-point type (10-point for footnotes, single-spaced, which must be in Bluebook format), and must not be less than 20 pages. Each page must have a header including the title of the paper and a page number. Each submission must be submitted in an editable, word format; pdf and other non-editable document formats will not be considered. No information that could identify the author should appear in the body of the paper, header, footer, or document properties to maintain anonymity in the review process. Submissions must include a separate cover sheet in a separate electronic file, including the essay title; author's name; law school; expected year of graduation from law school; and author's mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Submissions should be written in traditional law review style, with full citation to authority included in footnotes, and conforming to the 20th Edition of The Bluebook--A Uniform System of Citation. Participants acknowledge that the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal will not return any submitted entries. All entrants retain full copyright to their entries except that winners are required to license certain rights to the Buffalo Environmental Law as a condition of publication.
Submissions will be judged on the following criteria: (1) writing quality; (2) analysis of the legal issue; (3) originality; (4) quality of research; and (5) the topic's relevance to the field of Environmental Law.
Submissions will be judged anonymously and winner(s) will be determined by a committee selected by the Buffalo Environmental Law Journal Editorial Board. The Buffalo Environmental Law Journal will select up to three winners to be published .
- Winner(s) who made their submission during the early application period will be selected and notified no later than September 11, 2020 (the "Early Application Period Winner(s)") and will make up no more than two of the potential three winners.
- Winners(s) who made their submission by the general deadline will be notified no later than October 14, 2020 (the "General Deadline Winner(s)").
- Submissions that were made during the early application period, but were not selected as Early Application Period Winners may still be considered to be General Deadline Winners.
The Buffalo Environmental Law Journal reserves the right to select less than three winner(s) or publish less than three submitted work(s) as an Early Application Period Winner or General Deadline Winner if it is determined that no submissions are of sufficient quality to merit publication. If a potential Early Application Period Winner does not respond by September 18, 2020, the potential winner forfeits all rights to be named as winner or be published, and an alternate winner may be chosen. If a potential General Deadline Winner does not respond by October 24, 2020, the potential winner forfeits all rights to be named as winner or be published, and an alternate winner may be chosen. Any potential winner selected as an alternate winner may be notified at a later time than indicated above.
We hope that you are interested in our Competition. If so, please e-mail your submission to law-belj@buffalo.edu no later than Monday, September 30, 2020. If you have any questions about the Writing Competition, please feel free to contact us at the same e-mail address. We deeply appreciate your consideration and look forward to receiving your submissions.