The Freedom From Religion Foundation is excited to announce the 2025 Diane and Stephen Uhl Memorial Essay Competition for Law School Students, with a top prize of $4,000!
Law school students will be asked to respond to recent Supreme Court decisions that allow religious organizations to participate in government funding programs. Additionally, students will then analyze how anti-discrimination laws cannot be enforced against religious schools receiving public funds.
FFRF will award cash prizes to the top three essayists ($4,000, $3,000, $2,000) and optional honorable mentions ($500), if so deserving. All eligible entrants will also receive a one-year complimentary student membership to FFRF, which includes a digital version of 10 issues of Freethought Today.
Essays will be completely blinded to avoid unintentional bias. A selection of FFRF attorneys will be on the review panel.
The contest is open to all ongoing law school students attending a North American law school. Students will remain eligible to enter even if they are to graduate from law school by spring or summer of 2025. You remain eligible if you graduated law school in December 2024. You are not eligible to enter if you will be starting law school for the first time in the fall of 2025. You may not reenter if FFRF has already awarded you for a law student essay.
Essay must be no longer than 1,500 words (not including footnotes), double spaced, standard margins, and font size 11 to 14 point. Include page numbers and the title of your essay on each page. Choose your own title. Indicate word length at end of essay. To apply, go to: ffrf.us/essay
The deadline for entry is Jan. 27, 2025. For full rules and eligibility requirements, or to enter the contest, click here.
“Young Gen Z attorneys will pave the way,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “With a rogue court going unchecked, the future of law needs students willing to stand up for true religious liberty and the separation of state and church.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation strongly encourages law students to enter the contest.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the country’s largest freethought organization, with 40,000 nonreligious members and several chapters all across the country.
