White River Environmental Law Competition: Submissions Closed
The White River Writing Competition, sponsored by VJEL and Vermont Law and Graduate School, is an annual writing competition that seeks law students with a passion for environmental law to illuminate creative solutions to current legal frameworks at the local, state, federal, and international levels. The competition, named after the White River that flows through VJEL’s home in South Royalton, Vermont, embraces the broad view of environmental law, just as the river brings the local community together, flowing through the state of Vermont, until finally connecting to a larger river system progressing through many other states to ultimately reach the Atlantic Ocean. Please see below for competition details.
Contest Winner 2024
The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 White River Writing Competition. This year’s winner is Dawson Vandervort, with his submission “Using Contingent Valuation to Bridge the Gap.” Dawson’s winning submission will be featured in the upcoming Volume 26 of The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law during the 2024-2025 publication cycle.
Dawson Vandervort is a 3L dual JD and Master of Energy Regulation and Law (MERL) candidate at Vermont Law and Graduate School, graduating in May 2024. While Dawson is originally from Vandalia, Ohio, he plans to move to Washington D.C. after graduation to pursue a career with the federal Internal Revenue Service working with tax law. With this career path, he hopes to have a healthy mix of renewable energy, tax, and animal law, and hopes to use his experience and knowledge with the law to lobby Congress to create more animal rights legislation.
To read about Dawson’s winning submission, please see a summary of his upcoming publication on our VJEL Newsroom post announcing him as the 2024 winner.
White River Writing Competition 2024
The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (VJEL) is thrilled to announce our tenth-annual White River Environmental Law Writing Competition. This Competition aims to encourage academics nationwide to contribute their voices and insights to the ongoing debates and conversations within the environmental law community. The annual writing Competition supports VJEL’s mission to provide the legal community with premier scholarship in environmental law. In addition, we invite you to subscribe to our quarterly issues and VJEL’s two blogs, EcoPerspectives and The Beacon.
For eligibility and submission information, please see below.
Please share these competition details with any current ABA-accredited JD or LLM student(s) that may be interested. Any questions regarding the competition should be directed to VJEL by Contacting Us.
Submission and Eligibility Information
Submission Requirements
Any article that explores a legal environmental topic is generally eligible. Topics generally include environmental law, natural resource law, energy law, environmental justice, land use law, animal law, and agricultural law. For examples of Articles VJEL looks for, please see our Publications Page. All students currently within an ABA-accredited JD or LLM program are encouraged to apply. All submissions must:
- Address a relevant topic in environmental law
- Be in a Word format and around 20-30 double-spaced pages in length
- Contain accurate Bluebook citations in footnote form
- Adhere to standard conventions of American grammar and spelling
- Display original work and research that has not been previously published
Submission Instructions
Please follow the instructions below to submit. Failure to follow the submission requirements and submission instructions will result in disqualification.
- Please email your completed submission to ArticlesVJEL@vermontlaw.edu with the subject line “White River Submission” by 5:00 PM EST on Monday, March 18, 2024.
- Include a cover page that includes your name, address, phone number, email address, law school, and year of graduation to ensure anonymity and impartiality of the judging process. Do not include your name or any other personal information in any other part of your submission.
Judging Criteria and Submission Exclusion
All submissions will be reviewed by the seniors editors of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. Criteria for reviewing submissions include originality of ideas, depth of research, timeliness and relevance of topics addressed, and writing quality. The winning author will be notified in Spring 2024 and will receive a $1,000 cash prize and publication offer with VJEL. At the discretion of our senior editors, additional entries may receive publication offers.
Current VJEL and Vermont Law Review Staff Editor Notes are not eligible for submission during the year they were written. Staff Editors may submit works that are not their current Note. Senior Staff may apply with their Note or any other work.