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Procedures & Guidelines

The Insurance Law Section of the State Bar of Texas (“Section”), through its governing Council, is requesting submissions for its Fall 2023 Student Writing Competition (the “Competition”) to be coordinated by the Law Student Writing Competition Committee (the “Scholarship Committee”) under the following Procedures & Guidelines.

The Competition is a state-wide competition, open to written submissions of insurance-related articles (the “Submissions”) authored by law students in good standing from any of the ten accredited law schools in Texas.

Submission Deadline:

The submission deadline is Friday, December 22, 2023. The subject of the Submission must be an insurance law, insurance coverage, and/or an insurance law-related topic, to be chosen at the discretion of the student author.

The Scholarship Awards for Competition Winners:

The Competition’s winners will consist of “Statewide Winners” and “Best of School Winners” (collectively, the “Competition Winners”), all of whom shall be awarded scholarship awards (“Scholarship Awards”). The Scholarship Awards will be based upon a ranking of the best Submissions as determined by the sole discretion of the Review Committee established by the Section.

Scholarship Awards for the Statewide Winners shall be:

  • First Place: $4,000
  • Second Place: $2,000
  • Third Place: $1,000

Scholarship Awards for Best of School Winners in the amount of $500 each shall be awarded for the best Submission from each respective and eligible law school, provided that the Section receives a minimum of three (3) Submissions from that law school and there is no Statewide Winner from that school.

Presentation, Publicity and Potential Publication:

Competition Winners shall be publicized by the Section and recognized with an appropriate trophy, plaque, or certificate.

The Section reserves the sole and exclusive right to publish any Submission for up to one year after the Submission Deadline and a non-exclusive right to publish any Submission in perpetuity. Publication media may include but are not necessarily limited to the Journal of Texas Insurance Law, Right Off The Press, the Section website or social media, or Section-sponsored Insurance Law Seminar and/or Insurance Law CLE.

By submitting an entry, you grant to the Section and its assignees and licensees an exclusive one-year, royalty-free worldwide license to use, copy, modify, publicly display, broadcast, and distribute in any format, including without limitation the Internet, intranets, social media, cloud-based storage and any other technologies, whether now known or developed in the future, your Submission, and you represent that you have developed and own or have acquired legal rights to the content used in the Submission and thus have the authority to grant the license contained herein. After one year, this license shall be non-exclusive. This license relates only to the Submission(s) you make to the Section.

The Section may, at its discretion, invite any or all Statewide Winners to attend the annual Advanced Insurance Law Seminar in San Antonio to receive their respective awards, with travel stipends of up to $400 per person upon proof of expenditure.

Procedures for Competition Submission:

The Submission word limit is 2500. The Submission page limit is ten (10) pages double-spaced, 12-point font, with 1” margins all around. Submissions exceeding the word or page limit will be ineligible for consideration.

Students in good standing enrolled in the following schools (“Law Schools”) are eligible for this Competition:

  • Baylor University School of Law
  • South Texas College of Law Houston
  • Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
  • St. Mary’s University School of Law
  • Texas A&M University School of Law
  • Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
  • Texas Tech University School of Law
  • The University of Texas School of Law
  • University of Houston Law Center
  • University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law

The Section shall coordinate with the Law Schools, specifically their administrations (Dean’s Office or their designee) and faculties (Insurance Law faculty and/or legal practice/writing faculty) to market the Competition and to solicit Submissions through the Call for Submissions.

The Council shall form a committee consisting of at least seven individuals to review Competition submissions (the “Review Committee”). Reviewers may include representatives from the following:

  • Insurance Council Officer
  • Scholarship Committee
  • Sponsorship Committee
  • Journal of Texas Insurance Law
  • Right Off the Press
  • Website Committee
  • CLE Committee

The Fine Print:

A law school in which a Statewide Winner is enrolled is eligible to have a student named a Best of School Winner during the annual Competition in which the student was named a Statewide Winner.  A student named as a Statewide Winner may also be named Best of School Winner during the annual Competition in which the student was named a Statewide Winner.  In such instance, the Statewide Winner shall only receive the Statewide Winner monetary award; however, the Statewide Winner’s law school will not be eligible to receive the $500 Best of School Winner monetary award.

Payment of the Scholarship Award will be made through the respective law school’s financial aid department and is to be used for tuition and fees and expenses during the Spring semester or quarter, or in the semester or quarter immediately subsequent to the Spring Competition.  Any Scholarship Award amount remaining after payment of the tuition and fees and expenses during the Spring semester or quarter, or in the semester or quarter immediately subsequent to the Spring Competition, will be paid directly to the Winner.  If any Winners are not enrolled in law school during the Spring Semester due to graduation, or due to having fulfilled the requirements of graduation, or due to any reason not related to academic eligibility or disciplinary actions, that Winner will receive the Scholarship Award through direct payment of the awarded amount to the Winner rather than through the law school’s financial aid department.  Any Winner not enrolled in the Spring Semester due to academic eligibility or disciplinary action is ineligible to receive any Scholarship Award as of the date of the academic ineligibility or disciplinary action.

A law student’s Submission may only be submitted once for the Fall 2023 Competition. A paper submitted for some other purpose than the Competition, such as for course credit, is eligible for Submission in this Competition; provided however, that a paper is not eligible for Submission or consideration in this Competition if it has been previously published in, or is in the process of publication for, a law journal or other legal or insurance related publication. Any duplicate or multiple Submissions by the same author for the same Competition will render all Submissions by that author ineligible for consideration in the Competition.

These Procedures & Guidelines are specific to this Competition and do not apply to any other competition of the Insurance Law Section.

Updated 10/9/2023

The deadline for submissions of student papers (“Submission Deadline”) is receipt by the Section on or before 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, December 22, 2023.

Submissions should be emailed to admin@insurancelawsection.org.

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