SRLA Best Paper Award

SRLA BEST PAPER AWARD

The SRLA Best Paper Award is a competitive award granted to the best paper submitted (single author) as chosen by a panel of peers, which focuses on a significant and relevant legal issue related to sport or physical activity.

The winner will receive recognition at the Awards Banquet, and present during a special ‘Best Paper’ session at the Conference. Applicants are required to attend the SRLA Conference to win. The winner will also be encouraged to submit his/her paper to the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport.

Application Criteria:

  1. Papers should be a minimum of 2,500 words and a maximum of 4,000 words (exclusive of figures, tables, technical appendices, and references). Please see the below instructions on the correct formatting for all papers.
  1. Papers should be written in current APA or Blue Book style.
  1. Papers should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins.
  1. Applicants should submit their papers as a Microsoft Word document attachment via email to Dr. Rachel Silverman at silvermanr@unk.edu by 11:59 p.m. EST on December 15, 2024. Late submissions will not be considered. In the email message accompanying the attached paper, include the following:
    a. Author’s name
    b. Mailing address
    c. Email address
    d. Telephone number
    An email will be sent to the applicant to confirm receipt of the paper.
  1. Papers and associated research must be the sole work of the applicant.
  1. The paper author must be a current member of SRLA at the time of submission.

Criteria for Selection:

  1. Relevance, novelty, and importance of the topic to the field of legal aspects of sport and physical activity. The topic of the paper must address and specifically focus upon a legal issue.
  1. Quality and thoroughness of research; appropriateness of resources; use of primary resources.
  1. Quality of writing; editing; organization and logic of thoughts; grammar; and citation style.
  1. Adherence to the Application Criteria, identified above.
  1. The SRLA Board of Directors reserves the right to not award the Sport and Recreation Law Association Best Paper Award if only one award submission is made or if submissions do not meet the criteria above.

Paper Content Structure:
Paper content should follow the structure below:

  • Title page (the title should be short, simple, and clearly convey the focus of the paper)
  • Abstract (300 words or less; summarize content)
  • Body of paper
  • Figures and/or Tables (notations in the document should refer readers to figures and/or tables as appropriate)
  • References

A selection of SRLA members will judge all manuscripts on their overall quality per the above-noted selection criteria and their contribution to the field. Papers submitted to this award should not be concurrently submitted for consideration to another conference or previously presented at another conference. Submitted papers should not be of work published or in-press. Authors are allowed to submit their paper to both this competition as well as a SRLA presentation through the normal Call for Papers.

All questions should be directed to:

Rachel Silverman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Program Coordinator – Sport Management
1410 W 26th St
Cushing 129
Kearney, NE 68849
Phone: 308-865-8604