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The Tax Notes Student Writing Competition
Our annual student writing competition recognizes superior student writing on unsettled questions in tax law or policy. The competition is open to any student enrolled in a law, business, or public policy program during the 2024-2025 academic year. Entries should be at least 2,500 words and no more than 12,000 words, including footnotes.
The winning entries will be published in Tax Notes' weekly magazines, and winners may receive a 12-month subscription to Tax Notes' daily and weekly products.
The 2025 submission period is now open. Entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 30, 2025. Questions may be emailed to studentwritingcomp@taxanalysts.org.
For more information about the student writing competition, eligibility, and guidelines, click here.
Congratulations!
2024 Winner
Nicholas Lott
BYU Law School, Class of 2025
"New York, Amazon, and Company-Specific Tax Incentives: A Microcosm of a National Problem"
2024 Honorable Mention
Luis de la Cruz
New York University School of Law, Class of 2024
Past Winners
2023 Winner
Andres Berdugo
University of California, Irvine School of Law,
Class of 2023
"Form Follows Function: The Continuity of Business Enterprise Doctrine"
2022 Winner
Arielle Zhivko
Osgoode Hall Law School — York University, JD Candidate, Class of 2024
"Concealed Masterpieces: The Intersection of Taxation and the Art Market"
2022 Honorable Mentions
Emily Dace
New York University School of Law, LLM Class of 2022
Luke Kastenhuber
University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Class of 2024
2021 Winner
Bailey Hans
Notre Dame Law School
"GoFundMe: The Gift That Keeps on Giving, All Tax Season Long"
2021 Honorable Mention
Sadi Moradi
Georgetown University Law School
2020 Winner
Alex Zhang
Yale Law School
"The State and Local Tax Deduction and Fiscal Federalism"
2020 Honorable Mention
Alana Paris
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
2019 Winner
Benjamin Marcus Satterthwaite
University of Florida Levin College of Law
"Nash Bargaining Theory and Intangible Property Transfer Pricing"
2019 Honorable Mention
Daniel Pessar
Harvard Law School
Submit Your Paper
The 2025 submission period is now open. Entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 30, 2025. Questions may be emailed to studentwritingcomp@taxanalysts.org.
Competition Guidelines
Eligibility: The competition is open to any student currently enrolled in a law, business, or public policy program. Each student may submit only one paper. Coauthored papers will be accepted.
Topic: Submissions should focus on an unsettled question in federal, state, or international tax law or policy.
Format: Entries should be a minimum of 2,500 words and a maximum of 12,000 words, including footnotes. Citations should be formatted as footnotes in accordance with the current version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Bibliographies and reference lists are not allowed. Articles should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents.
Deadline: Deadline: Entries must be received no later than June 30, 2024.
Submission Process: Entries must be submitted through the Student Writing Competition online portal. Please do not include any identifying information in the article. Entries submitted through email will not be accepted.
Evaluation: Our editorial staff blindly evaluates entries on originality, readability, organization, reasoning, and overall quality of content.
Winning Entries: Winning entries are published in Tax Notes’ weekly magazines and will be eligible to receive a 12-month subscription to Tax Notes’ daily and weekly products. Winners’ names and schools will be prominently featured on the Tax Notes website. All winning articles will remain in the Tax Notes archives indefinitely. Winning entrants will be subject to our editorial process and publication policies, including signing an outside author agreement.
Notification: Entrants will be notified that their submission has been received within 2 business days of submission and notified of competition results by August 2025.
Conditions: Submissions must not have been published in any other publication or forum at the time of submission. If a student accepts an offer of publication before notification of the results of this competition, Tax Analysts must be immediately informed.
Contact: Please direct any questions to studentwritingcomp@taxanalysts.org.