WRITING COMPETITION RULES

Topics
Papers will be accepted on any issue concerning American Indian Law. However, topics recently published in the American Indian Law Review will not be favored.

Eligibility
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 Jan. 31, 2012. Editors of the American Indian Law Review are not eligible.

Awards
First place winner will receive $1,000 and publication of paper in the American Indian Law Review, an official periodical of the University of Oklahoma College of Law with international distribution. Second place winner will receive $500. Third place winner will receive $250.

The three winning authors will be recognized on the masthead of the American Indian Law Review and will receive copies of Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law, provided by LEXIS. Other entries of publishable quality may also be published in the American Indian Law Review. These authors will be so notified.

Deadline
Electronic entries must be received no later than 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Jan. 31, 2012. Hardcopy entries must be postmarked on or before that date. Entries will be acknowledged upon receipt. All entries become the property of the American Indian Law Review.

Judges
Papers will be judged by members of the legal profession with an interest in American Indian Law and by the editors of the American Indian Law Review.

Standards
Papers will be judged on the basis of originality and timeliness of 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.

Form
Entries must be a minimum of 20 pages in length and a maximum of 50 pages in length excluding endnotes. All citations should conform to the Bluebook. The body of the email must contain the author's name, social security number, school, expected year of graduation, current address, permanent address, and email address. Inquiries may be replied to by email. No identifying marks (name, school, etc.) should appear on the paper itself. All entries must have only one author, be previously unpublished and not currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers entered in the American Indian Law Review writing competition may not be submitted for consideration to any other publication until such time as winning entrants are announced. Any entries not fully in accord with required form will be ineligible for consideration.

Submission
Submissions may be emailed to the American Indian Law Review at mwaters@ou.edu by the competition deadline. Entries may be sent as Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or PDF documents. Although email submissions are preferred, hardcopies are acceptable. Hardcopy submissions must be postmarked by the deadline date.  If submitting a hardcopy entry, mail it to AILR Writing Competition, American Indian Law Review, 300 Timberdell Road, Norman, OK 73019. Please send an email to mwaters@ou.edu by the deadline to notify the AILR that you are sending a hardcopy submission.