The Real Property Law Section sponsors an annual Student Writing Competition, open to all students who are candidates for the JD or LLM degree at an accredited law school in New York State during the year in which the article is submitted. The student article that is judged best, provided it is of publishable quality and otherwise meets the criteria of the Competition, will be designated as “best article” and receive a cash prize of $500. At the discretion of the editors, the best article will also be published in the NYSBA New York Real Property Law Journal, which is the Section’s official publication. In addition, one or more other student articles that are deemed worthy of recognition, provided they otherwise meet the criteria of the Competition, may be designated as “outstanding submissions.” The Section reserves the right to decline to designate a “best article” and/or any “outstanding submissions” in any given year, depending on its determination of quality of submissions. All selections and determinations shall be final. Entries that do not qualify for an award may also be considered for publication in the Journal. Submissions must be made by no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time on March 1 of each year. Awardees will be announced no later than May 1 of each year.
To be eligible for consideration, the topic of the article must relate to real property law (which term shall be broadly construed and includes, without limitation, landlord tenant, real estate financing, land use, housing, condominiums and cooperatives, construction, and environmental topics affecting real estate).
Articles submitted will be judged on the following criteria:
- Relevance to the Journal’s audience (New York real property lawyers)
- Timeliness of the topic
- Originality
- Quality of research, analysis and writing
- Clarity and conciseness
The manuscript should follow blue book cite format (using endnotes rather than footnotes) and be a minimum of 3,000 words (there is no maximum). All submissions become the property of the NYSBA and the Real Property Law Journal. By submitting an article, the student is deemed to consent to its publication, whether or not a prize or recognition is awarded, and is deemed to represent and warrant that the paper is the entrant’s original work, has been written without substantial unattributed input from others, and has not previously been published.
To enter, the student should submit an original, unpublished manuscript in Word format to Robert J. Sein, member of the Publications Committee of the Real Property Law Section (seinr@stjohns.edu). The student should include a brief biography, including law school attended, degree for which the student is a candidate, and expected year of graduation.
Winners
2023: Zoe Lindsey, Brooklyn Law School
2022: Daniel Finnegan, Brooklyn Law School