student writing competition

The Asian American Law Journal (AALJ) at UC Berkeley School of Law sponsors the Akiyu Hatano Student Writing Award, an annual competition designed to encourage scholarship that addresses legal issues affecting Asian Pacific Americans. The author of the winning submission will receive $500 and will have his or her paper published in the 2009 issue of AALJ. Other submissions will also be considered for publication.

Submissions must be original, unpublished works exploring legal issues that impact the Asian Pacific American community. We welcome focused analyses of individual Asian Pacific American ethnic groups, as well as discussions of domestic or international issues affecting Asian Pacific Americans in general. Past papers have addressed Asian Pacific American political empowerment, the use of �cultural defenses� in criminal law, racial profiling, and Asian Pacific Americans and affirmative action. Submissions focusing on any legal issue affecting Asian Americans will be considered.

• Document must be sent as a Microsoft Word attachment to aalj.writingcompetition@gmail.com;
• Be at least twenty (20) typed pages double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins;
• Include a cover letter with the author’s name, current address, current telephone number, and current e-mail address; and
• Include citations at the bottom of the page that conform to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th Edition).

Entries will be judged on thoroughness of research, quality of legal analysis, clarity of expression, and timeliness of thesis.  The decision of the judges will be final and AALJ reserves the right not to choose a winner in the event that no entries meet our publishing criteria.  All submissions will be considered for publication and AALJ reserves the exclusive publication rights to all submissions.