awards

cari siestra award for excellence in organizing

Named in honor of LSRJ's visionary founder, former Executive Director, and organizer extraordinaire, this prize is awarded annually to a current LSRJ member or chapter that has demonstrated excellence in campus organizing in the previous three semesters. The Award Review Committee consists of LSRJ staff and student members. Criteria considered include applicants' efforts to advocate for RJ on their campuses and in their communities, successes in overcoming adversity, and participation in the LSRJ network on the regional or national levels. The winning chapter or individual receives a trophy and prize money – to put toward their organizing efforts, of course! To apply for the 2010 Cari Sietstra Award for Excellence in Organizing, please download the application (PDF).

Past recipients of the Cari Sietstra Award include:

2009 – Madison Burnett (Georgia State University College of Law, class of 2009)

2008 – Joy Levin Welan (Georgetown University Law Center, Class of 2008)

sarah weddington writing prize for student scholarship in reproductive rights law

Law students tend to write their papers, comments, and notes on current legal topics pertaining to their course materials. Without there being more course coverage of reproductive rights and justice, students need an outside incentive to dedicate their time and attention to research and writing in this field of study. To incentivize and inspire student scholarship, LSRJ annually awards two student authors the Sarah Weddington Writing Prize for New Student Scholarship in Reproductive Rights Law.

Law Students for Reproductive Justice is collaborating with the Center for Reproductive Rights in an effort to encourage legal scholarship applying a human rights framework to issues in reproductive justice. The theme of this year's 5th Annual Sarah Weddington Prize for New Scholarship in Reproductive Rights is Reproductive Rights as Human Rights, and dovetails with the Center for Reproductive Rights' initiatives integrating human rights and reproductive justice. This theme reaffirms the universality of reproductive justice, and the international and comparative approaches advocates have adopted in addressing reproductive injustices through the law. The goal of this year's writing prize is to encourage innovative analysis and advocacy, as well as to provide preparation for future leaders of the reproductive justice movement. For information about the application and selection process, please download the latest call for submissions (PDF).

Past recipients of the prize include:

2008/2009

First Place: Joanna Nairn, J.D. (Harvard Law School, Class of 2009) for "Is There a Right to Have Children? Substantive Due Process and Probation Conditions that Restrict Reproductive Rights" (PDF)
Second Place: Kelsey Collier-Wise, J.D. candidate (University of South Dakota School of Law, class of 2010) for "Bearing Witness: Looking for Remedies for Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women " (PDF)

2007/2008

First Place: Danielle Franco Mallone, J.D. (University of Washington School of Law, Class of 2008) for "Forging Family Ties through Full Surrogacy: An Argument In Favor of Recognizing Non-Traditional Parents in Japan" (PDF)
Second Place: Jocelyn Getgen, J.D. (Cornell, Class of 2007) for "Untold Truths: The Exclusion of Enforced Sterilizations from the Peruvian Truth Commission's Final Report" (PDF)

2006/2007

First Place: Ashley Wenger, J.D. (University of Minnesota, Class of 2007) for "Fetal Pain Legislation: Subordinating Sound Medical Findings to Moral and Political Agendas" (PDF)
Second Place: Katherine Atkinson, J.D. (Washington College of Law at American University, Class of 2006) for "The Constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003" (PDF)

2005/2006

First Place: Elizabeth Pike, J.D. (Georgetown University Law Center, Class of 2007) for "Contraceptive Conflicts at the Counter: Exploring the Legal Ramifications of a Pharmacists' Conscientious Objection to Filling Prescriptions for Emergency Contraception" (PDF)
Second Place: Hannah Stein, J.D. (University of Minnesota, Class of 2005) for "En masse subpoenaing of abortion and pregnancy records: a disturbing attack on medical records privacy" (PDF)