The North Carolina Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Announces its 2022 Writing Competition: “Legal Visionaries”

 

By Claire O’Brien and Michael Cohen

The YLD Communications Committee, in conjunction with YLD leadership, is excited to announce that its 2022 Writing Competition, “Legal Visionaries,” is open as of today, January 19!

This year, we invite you to tell us how you envision the practice of law changing between now and when you someday retire. What potential change most excites you? Why is this change important? How will it come about? Changes could relate to diversity, technology, remote work, and more – the winning submissions will be creative, thoughtful, and specific. You may address one change in depth or discuss several potential changes. Entries can be fiction or non-fiction, and should be written in accordance with the rules set forth below.

Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in our Second Annual Writing Competition, a chance for imaginative self-expression in the context of a friendly competition among the YLD community! Each winner will receive a gift basket and will have their piece published on the NCBarBlog. The deadline for submission is March 7, 2022.

Rules for the Writing Competition

The following rules apply to the YLD’s writing competition[1]:

1. Permissible Entrants: The competition is open to any current NCBA YLD member. Authors may collaborate, but only one submission from each member will be considered. Except for Communications Committee members, members of the YLD Leadership may participate.
2. Content: Each YLD member may submit one (1) entry. The entry may be fictional or non-fictional and may be in any form. Examples of forms your creative writing submission may take include, but are not limited to:
   • Poetry
   • Novellas, vignettes, or short stories
   • Memoirs
   • Letters
   • Journal entries
   • Personal essays
   • Literary Journalism
   • Lyrical essays or songs
   • Speeches
   • Scripts for a play, movie, or television show
3. Length: Entries may not be more than 2,500 words in length.
4. Deadline: All submissions must be received in proper form by Monday, March 7, 2022. Submissions time-stamped after 11:59 p.m. EST on March 7, 2022, will not be considered.
5. How To Submit: Submissions must be submitted in a Microsoft Word document attached to an email sent to NCBA Staff at [email protected]. Submissions will be judged without knowledge of the identity of the author’s name. To that end, do not include your name anywhere in the body of your submission (i.e., do not include your name in the Word attachment). Instead, please include only your N.C. State Bar Number in the subject line of your email and the body of your submission. NCBA staff will deliver anonymized submissions to the Communications Committee for judging.
6. Judging Criteria: Among the criteria the YLD Communications Committee will consider in judging the submissions are: quality of writing and style; originality of thought and presentation; and overall adherence to the parameters set forth herein. The Committee will not consider any submission that, in the sole judgment of the Communications Committee or the NCBA, contains matter that is libelous or violates accepted community standards of good taste and decency.
7. All submissions to the competition become property of the NCBA and, by submitting the writing, the author warrants that it has not been previously published.
8. Depending on the number and quality of submissions, the Communications Committee anticipates selecting one (1) to four (4) winning entries. The Committee plans to publish the winning submissions as a series in the NCBarBlog, with attribution to the selected authors. Each winner will receive a gift basket sourced from local makers and small businesses in North Carolina.

If you have any questions about the writing competition or the applicable rules, please email Claire O’Brien ([email protected]) and Michael Cohen ([email protected]), your YLD Communications Committee Co-Chairs.

This writing competition is brought to you by the YLD Communications Committee.

[1] The YLD Communications Committee would like to thank the Editorial Board of the North Carolina State Bar Journal for providing helpful examples of contest rules when the Journal hosted its own writing competition.