Student Writing Competition
intro
Established by Professor Kevin Hull, in partnership with Prof. Danielle McCain and the Writing Resource Center (WRC), UIC Law’s Student Writing Competition: Legislative Drafting focuses on drafting proposed language in proper technical format according to the Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau’s Drafting Manual.
The competition honors the Law School alumni who have served in our state’s General Assembly, worked on legislative staff, and advanced client-based issues as registered lobbyists and government affairs liaisons.
Initial submissions are due March 1, 2026. See details below.
Entry Guidelines
Teams will consist of at least two but no more than four members, with encouragement to create a mix of both day and evening students. Only current UIC Law students may participate and each team may submit only one entry. All entries will be judged anonymously by the Competition Judges, who will select the winning submissions. Competition organizers will assign a random number to each entry.
All entries should be submitted using the following format:
- An electronic in pdf
- 1” margins
- Single-spaced
- 11pt. Arial font
- Page numbers
- Header with team name
All submissions should be submitted to law-wrc@uic.edu.
Criteria for scoring includes:
- Clarity, conciseness, completeness; logic flow
- Quality of legislative history research and authority provided
- Accuracy and clarity in the understanding of the issue
- Compliance with technical quality of writing and all legal writing standards
- Organization, grammar, syntax, and form
Scoring will be assessed as follows:
Initial Submissions (All Teams)
- Resolution 40%
- Cover Memorandum 60%
Final/Committee Round (Top Three Teams)
- Draft Language 30%
- Cover Memorandum 30%
- Oral Presentation 40%
Competition restrictions include:
- Teams are prohibited from using any type of Generative Artificial Intelligence (eg, ChatGPT)
- Only current UIC Law Faculty may be consulted on submissions
- Teams may not consult with or rely on any assistance from non-Law School individuals, including alumni
- Teams must meet deadlines; no extensions
Publishing and Promotions
UIC Law will issue a media release that includes the names of all participants. The law school will also explore the possibility of publishing the top three submissions.
The Problem and Task Announced
Most law students are familiar with the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS). Now is the time to challenge your skillset with the inaugural Student Writing Competition, hosted by the Writing Resource Center.
For the first-round submission, please see the problem that should be used to draft your legislation according to the drafting manual and all guidelines.
The initial submission is due on March 1, 2026, and should be emailed to law-wrc@uic.edu.
The problem
- Supreme Court allows California to use congressional map benefitting Democrats.1
- Supreme Court allows Texas to use redistricting map challenged as being racially discriminatory.2
- Pritzker says if Indiana redraws its congressional districts, Illinois may follow suit.3
In Illinois, Redistricting is found in Article IV, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution4. In (b) of that provision it states:
b) In the year following each Federal decennial census year, the General Assembly by law shall redistrict the Legislative Districts and the Representative Districts. If no redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of that year, a Legislative Redistricting Commission shall be constituted.
For a new map to be effective by June 30 of that same year, the General Assembly must have a super-majority of each Chamber voting in favor. This is a monumental task for an issue that is so politically charged.
As the 1991 and 2001 Redistricting exercises showed, there is no hope of bi-partisanship through the process. In those instances, it came down to chance – a name pulled out of a replica of Lincoln’s iconic stove-pipe hat5 – to determine which party controlled the re-map process.
In more recent time, one party had control of the legislature to pass a map without needing to resort to this step.
Footnotes
task
You’ve been retained by the advocacy group “Democracy for Illinois” to research how other states handle their redistricting process to identify ways Illinois could reform its approach. As recent action shows, no longer are states waiting for the decennial Census to re-draw their maps6.
- Draft a House Joint Resolution outlining the way you think Illinois should re-draw its districts (see Chapter 80 of the Illinois Bill Drafting Manual7); and
- Draft a one-page cover Memorandum addressed to the Executive Director of the advocacy group explaining your decisions.
Additional information
Timeline & Deadlines:
- Initial Submission Due: Sunday, March 1, 2026 by 5:00 p.m. CT
- Final Round Submission Due: Monday, March 23, 2026 by 5:00 p.m. CT
- Committee Round (In-Person): Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. CT
Competition Awards:
- 1st Place: $1,000/pp
- 2nd Place: Cash Prize
- 3rd Place: Cash Prize
Awards will be presented at the reception following the Final Round. All participating team members will receive a personalized Certificate of Achievement.