The Freedom From Religion Foundation is excited to announce its 2023 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 write an essay that makes the argument, under current case law, that a law banning or restricting abortion should be invalidated based on the religious liberty interests of a potential plaintiff. That might include nonbelievers, as well as believers.
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 by the judges. 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. You remain eligible to enter this contest if you will graduate from law school by spring or summer of 2023.
Essays must be no longer than 1,500 words (not including footnotes).
Deadline for entry is March 15, 2023.
For full rules and eligibility requirements, or to enter the contest, go to ffrf.us/lawessay23.
“Abortion rights — under siege by religiously motivated interests — are dominating the news and state legislative agendas,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Don’t the nonreligious, as well as adherents to pro-choice sects, have the right to be free from the imposition of conservative religious doctrine when they make the most intimate decision of all: Whether to go through a pregnancy or become a parent?”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation strongly encourages law students to enter the contest.
