Law Student Writing Competition
We are pleased to announce Everytown Law’s third annual Law Student Writing Competition!
Eligibility
The Competition is open to law students who are enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school and are legal residents of the United States. Employees of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, its affiliated organizations (collectively “Everytown”) and their immediate family or household members are not eligible for the Competition.
Writing Topic
The Competition asks students to consider how they might use litigation and the law to advance gun violence prevention.
Example topics may include, but are not limited to, reducing gun violence through:
- Representing survivors of gun violence
- Challenging the gun industry’s dangerous business practices
- Lawsuits seeking stronger enforcement of existing gun safety laws
- Defending gun safety laws against constitutional challenges
- Litigating at the intersection of civil rights and gun violence prevention
- Litigating at the intersection of gender justice and gun violence prevention
- Emerging topics in Second Amendment jurisprudence
Submission Guidelines
All submissions must be composed of original research and writing. Law school notes and academic articles that have previously been submitted or the student is planning to submit to law school reviews and journals for publication are eligible for submission. Note that submissions that have been previously published or accepted for publication are welcome but must be accompanied by written authorization for re-print to be eligible for The Competition. Failure to submit an original essay or permission to re-print will result in disqualification and may result in the selection of a new winner. Only one written work, per competition, may be submitted by each entrant.
Preferred submission length is 5,000 to 15,000 words, including footnotes, but may be as long as a law review note.
Please follow the Bluebook for citations.
For anonymous evaluation of the entries, no information that could identify the author should appear anywhere in the body of the paper, including in the header, footer, or document properties.
Entry Procedure
Entries must be received on or before June 20, 2025 by midnight ET via submission in the form. Everytown Law will not consider entries received after the specified deadline.
Everytown Law is not responsible for any transmission errors, including telecommunication or hardware or software failures, including by reason of any bug or computer virus or other failure.
All participants retain full copyright to their entries except that winners are required to license certain rights to Everytown Law as stated herein as a condition of entry.
Selection Criteria
Submissions will be judged by a variety of factors deemed relevant by Everytown Law, including their contribution to gun violence prevention litigation, use of legal analysis, quality of legal research and writing, creativity, and vision. The decision of whether a particular writing qualifies is entirely within the discretion of Everytown Law. The entries will be judged anonymously.
Everytown Law reserves the right not to select a winner and not to award any prizes if it is determined that no entries are of sufficient quality to merit selection. If a potential winner does not respond within ten (10) business days after Everytown Law’s first attempt to contact the potential winner, or if the contact email is returned as non-deliverable, the potential winner forfeits all rights to be named as winner or receive a prize, and an alternate winner may be chosen.
Prize
Everytown Law may award up to three prizes: a first prize of $2,500 and two runners-up prizes of $1,000 each. The winner and two runners-up may receive a speaking opportunity at an Everytown Law convening. All three top papers may be eligible for publication on Everytown Law’s website or social media. Winning submissions will be announced on or before September 19, 2025.
Contact
Sign up below to receive email updates about the competition. Please direct any further questions to everytownlawfund@everytown.org.
Previous Winners
Announcing the Winners of the Second Annual Everytown Law Fund Law Student Writing Competition!
The Everytown Law Fund is pleased to announce the three winners of its second annual law school student writing competition! The competition asked law students…
Announcing the Winners of the First Annual Everytown Law Fund Law Student Writing Competition!
The Everytown Law Fund is delighted to announce the three winners of its first annual law school student writing competition! The competition asked law…