Food & Agricultural Law Student Writing Competition

On October 1, I had the pleasure of providing the keynote luncheon speech at the Cultivating Our Future food and agriculture conference hosted by the The Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation (JELL) and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon School of Law. Neil Hamilton provided the closing keynote address, and fellow blogger Anthony Schutz presented via video conference.

JELL and the Morse Center are again teaming up to announce the 2010‐2011 JELL Writing Competition. This year’s contest topic is Food and Agriculture Law and Policy, and the competition is open to students at accredited law schools in the United States and Canada who are enrolled as of the competition deadline of January 31, 2011.

Papers will be accepted on any issue concerning food/agriculture law and policy. However, topics addressed in articles recently appeared in the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation will not be favored. Competitors are encouraged to review previous JELL articles as posted on the JELL website.

The winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of $500 and the possibility of publishing the winning paper in the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation’s spring 2011 issue. Authors of other entries of publishable quality may also be offered the opportunity to publish in JELL.

All entries must be received no later than 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time on January 31, 2011. Entries will be acknowledged upon receipt. All entries become the property of the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation. Submissions will be judged by JELL editors, Wayne Morse staff, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center faculty, Legal Research and Writing law faculty, and local attorneys with an interest in food and agriculture law and policy.

Papers will be judged on the basis of originality and timeliness of the topic, knowledge and use of applicable legal principles, proper and articulate analysis of the issues, use of authorities and extent of research, logic and reasoning in analysis, ingenuity and ability to argue by analogy, clarity and organization, correctness of format and citations, grammar and writing style, and strength and logic of conclusions.

Entries must be a minimum of 20 pages in length and a maximum of 40 pages in length, excluding endnotes, double‐spaced using Times New Roman 12‐point font with one‐inch top, bottom, and side margins. All citations should conform to the Bluebook (19th ed.). All entries must have only one author, be previously unpublished, and not currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers entered in the JELL writing competition may not be submitted for consideration to any other publication until after the winner is announced.

Submissions may be emailed to the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation at daviss@uoregon.edu by the competition deadline. Please use “JELL Writing Competition Submission” as the subject line of the email message. Entries must be attached in Microsoft Word .doc or .docx formatting.

If submitting by email, the body of the message containing the attached submission must include the author's name, school, expected year of graduation, current address, permanent
address, and email address. No identifying information (name, school, etc.) should appear on the paper itself.

Although email submissions are preferred, hardcopy entries are acceptable. No identifying information should appear in the body of the paper, but should be included on a cover page. If submitting a hardcopy entry, mail it to the address below and send an email to
daviss@uoregon.edu to notify JELL that you are sending a hardcopy submission, or fax your entry to the number below. Hardcopy entries must be received by 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time on
January 31, 2011.

Failure to follow these guidelines may result in the rejection of a submission.

Mail or fax entries to:

JELL 2010‐2011 Writing Competition Phone: (541) 346‐3844
Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation Fax: (541) 346‐1564
ATTN: Writing Competition Editor Email: daviss@uoregon.edu
138 Knight Law Building
1515 Agate Street
Eugene, OR 97403

Please pass this announcement on to any interested law students. Its a great opportunity to explore a fascinating area of law.