AATJ Law School Scholarship
Essay Competition

Deadline: 11:59 p.m. CST, Friday, September 4, 2026
Award: Four scholarships of $2,500 each

The Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation is now accepting entries for the 2026-2027 AATJ Law School Scholarship Essay Competition through Friday, September 4, 2026. 

Students must submit an original essay addressing one of the two provided topics. Four winners will be selected from the top-scored essays, regardless of topic. Each winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship.

Eligibility

Entrants must be enrolled as a student at William H. Bowen School of Law or the University of Arkansas School of Law at the time of submission.

The Foundation’s officers, directors, staff members, contest judges, and the immediate household or family members of such persons are not eligible to enter or win. 

The Foundation will be the sole judge of an entry’s eligibility.

Essay Requirements

The Foundation will accept only one entry per student. Each essay submission should contain at least 500 words and no more than 1,000 words.

Entries must be an essay addressing one of the two provided topics:

Entries must be original essays. Submissions containing AI plagiarism will be disqualified.

Each entry must also include the student’s name, email address, phone number, and expected graduation date. This information will not count toward the essay word limit.

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 Foundation the non-exclusive and perpetual right to publish the work in any publication platform, whether print or digital, without further compensation. 

How to Submit

Entries must be submitted electronically by email to scholarship@arkansasjustice.org. A confirmation of receipt will be sent for each entry successfully received.

Entries submitted by other means will not be accepted or judged. The Foundation is not responsible for errors in transmission, computer errors, or similar problems. 

Review & Selection

Contest entries will be judged by a panel selected by the Foundation’s board of directors and their designees, and the winner will be confirmed by the board of directors.

Entries will be judged on the basis of originality, clarity, need, and insight into access to justice and its role as a core value of society and the legal profession. The Foundation reserves the right not to choose a winner based on its sole discretion. 

Winner Notification

The winners will be notified on or before October 2, 2026. The winners will be notified by email and/or telephone prior to any public announcement. If a winner does not respond within five (5) business days of notification, the email is returned as undeliverable, and there is no voicemail available, the winner forfeits all rights to the Scholarship and an alternate winner will be chosen. 

The winners are responsible for all taxes associated with receipt of the prize. As a condition of receiving the prize, each winner must submit a completed W-9. 

If you have any questions, please email scholarship@arkansasjustice.org.