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!

Past recipients of the Cari Sietstra Award include:

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.

Winners receive monetary prizes, have their pieces published on LSRJ’s website, and may be invited to present their papers at academic symposia and advocate conferences. For information about the application and selection process, please open the latest call for submissions.

Past recipients of the prize include:

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"
• 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"

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"
• 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"

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"
• 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"