Essay Contest

About the Essay Contest

Now in its 22nd year, the Essay Contest was started by the Foundation’s James W. Cooper Fellows in 2000. The purpose of the essay contest is to get young people in Connecticut thinking about and exploring legal issues relevant to them.

In 2011, the Essay Contest was named after Quintin Johnstone, who was a professor at Yale Law School before his death in 2014. Johnstone served as past president of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, participated in a variety of Fellows projects for many years, and was a longtime member of the Fellows Education and Program Committee, which helps to organize Fellows projects like the annual Essay Contest.

This year’s contest generated 145 entries from 46 schools across Connecticut. The Foundation thanks the student essayists, and the schools and teachers who supported them, for their participation.

We also wish to thank the Connecticut Supreme Court for their continued support of the Essay Contest, and for welcoming us back to the court for our first in-person awards ceremony since 2019. The Foundation is so grateful that we were able to honor our winners at a special ceremony on June 8, 2022.

Finally, we want to thank the over 140 attorneys and judges from across the state who reviewed and scored the essays this year. Justices and judges who participated in the final round of judging for the 2021-2022 contest were: Justice Raheem Mullins, Justice Maria Araujo Kahn, Justice Richard Palmer, Judge Alexandra DiPentima, and Judge Ingrid Moll.

Click here to view a complete list of the 2021-2022 Essay Contest Judges

2021-2022 Essay Contest Committee

Robert A. Harris & Justine C. Rakich-Kelly, Co-Chairs
Sheila Charmoy
Matthew Cholewa
Hon. Maureen Keegan
William Logue
Ann-Marie DeGraffenreidt
Dean Eboni S. Nelson
Susan Freedman
Hon. Maureen Price-Boreland
Gerald Giaimo
Hon. Angela C. Robinson
Gary R. Gold
Dan Schwartz
Hon. Ernest Green, Jr.
Carolyn Signorelli
Gail Hardy
Jack G. Steigelfest
Tamara Kagan Levine
Hon. S. Dave Vatti
Gayle Wintjen