ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction - June 30, 2014

The ABA Journal is accepting entries for the 2014 ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction (“The Contest”).

Entries must be original works of fiction of no more than 5,000 words that illuminate the role of the law and/or lawyers in modern society. The winner will receive a prize of $3,000. Entrants must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Winner is responsible for all taxes associated with receipt of the prize. As a condition of receiving the prize, winner must submit a completed W-9.

Deadline for entries is 5p.m. CDT, June 30, 2014. The ABA Journal will accept only one entry by any individual author. Entries must be submitted electronically through the ABA Journal website, ABAJournal.com/contests/ross_essay. Entries submitted by other means will be not accepted or judged. ABA is not responsible for errors in transmission, computer errors, or similar problems.

Entries may be unpublished, or published no earlier than January 1, 2013. Entries posted publicly on the Internet, regardless of the forum or venue, will be considered published for the purposes of the contest. The ABA Journal will be the sole judge of an entry’s eligibility.

The author of any work submitted will retain copyright to his or her entry. However, by submitting a work for consideration in the contest, the winning author grants the American Bar Association and/or the ABA Journal the non-exclusive and perpetual right to publish the work in its periodicals, books, anthologies, ebooks, audiobooks or any other publication platform, whether print or digital without further compensation.

Contest entries will be judged by a panel selected by the editor and publisher of the ABA Journal and the winner confirmed by the ABA Journal Board of Editors. Entries will be judged on the basis of creativity, plot exposition, legal insight and character development. The winner will be announced on or before August 31, 2014. Winner will be notified by email prior to any announcement. If winner does not respond within five business days, or email is returned as undeliverable, winner forfeits all right to prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.

ABA officers, directors, staff members, members of the ABA Journal Board of Editors and their immediate household or family members, and freelance writers for the ABA Journal who have been paid for articles published after January 1, 2013, are not eligible to enter or win.

Sponsor: American Bar Association, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654