2026 High School Essay Contest
Each year, the Princeton Legal Journal hosts an essay contest for high school students focused around a new, timely theme. The top three essays will be published by the Princeton Legal Journal.
The submission form will open soon.
2026 Competition Theme:
Religious Liberty in American Law and Public Life
Essays must explore this year’s theme, which centers on religious liberty, broadly conceived, under the United States Constitution. Possible topics include, but are certainly not limited to: the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, religious exemptions from generally applicable laws, tensions between religious liberty and anti-discrimination principles, the scope of protections under federal statutes such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the evolving jurisprudence of the Supreme Court in this area. This prompt is purposely broad in scope in order to give participants space to delve into an area of the law that uniquely interests them.
The competition is open to all current high school students graduating in or after May 2026. International students are welcome to participate. Each individual may submit only one piece. Submissions must be a personal piece of work, containing proper citations if applicable (Chicago or Bluebook is acceptable).
The deadline for submissions is May 5th, 2026. Each entrant will be charged a $15 submission dollar fee. Submissions must be no shorter than 1,500 words and no longer than 3,000 words, excluding footnotes.
To ensure anonymized review, please do not include any identifying information, including name, class year, or institution, in your essay’s body or metadata. Failure to anonymize your essay may disqualify it from consideration by the Selection Committee.
A Selection Committee will consider all submissions anonymously. Winners will be announced in late May 2026. Authors who submit winning essays commit to publication in the Princeton Legal Journal and agree to participate in our full editing process. This process involves both structural and substantive suggestions, as well as source citing for content.
Please direct any questions concerning the competition to lw8376@princeton.edu and nv9344@princeton.edu.
We look forward to reading your submissions