The Columbia Undergraduate Law Review High School Essay Contest invites students to analyze legal issues through a new annual prompt. The 2026 topic addressed immigration, national sovereignty and the rights of non-citizens; the 2025 topic addressed due process and government power.
The 2026 contest is historical and its officially linked form is closed. The deadline was June 26, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST, retaining the organizer’s timezone label. Its rules required one PDF essay of at most 1,500 body words, Chicago citations and reference to at least one court case or legal document. Students graduating in May or June 2026 were excluded as recent graduates. The official page now publishes the winner and runner-up.
Checked November 4, 2026: no 2027 prompt, deadline, eligibility or fee terms are announced. The previous June date and 2026 rules do not establish the next contest’s terms. The checked current page does not explicitly confirm free entry. Sources: official contest page and results and closed 2026 submission form.