The Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World at Harvard Law School awards a prize of $1,000 annually to the Harvard Law Student writing the best paper in the field of law and society or law and social change in a Muslim majority or minority context. Papers eligible for consideration must have been written during the current academic year at Harvard Law School. For more information on how to apply, please see the HLS Student Writing Prizes Submission Instructions.
PLSMW Writing Prize Recipients
2025 - Arash Abbas
Arash Abbas, J.D. 2026
“Resisting Repression: How the PTI Transformed Authoritarian Election Interference into Democratic Momentum.”
2024 - Lorenz Dantes
Lorenz Dantes, L.L.M. 2024
“Islamic Law Principles as Basis for Migrants’ Right to Diplomatic Asylum.”
2023 - Fady Khoury
Fady Khoury, S.J.D. 2023
“Constitutional Design in Divided Societies: Historical Formations, Power-Sharing and Courts –The Case of Lebanon.”
2022 - Megha Mehta
Megha Mehta, LL.M. 2022
“Reposing ‘Faith’ in Gender Equality: Mapping the Consequences of the Sabarimala case for Religious Freedom and Gender Equality in India.”
2021 - Shaiba Rather
Shaiba Rather, J.D. 2021
“From Domicile to Dominion: The Settler Colonial Agenda in Kashmir.”
2019 - Opeyemi Rabiat Akande & Daniel Levine-Spound
Opeyemi Rabiat Akande, S.J.D. 2019
“Navigating Entanglements: Contestations over Religion-State Relations in British Colonial Northern Nigeria, c. 1890 – 1977.”
Daniel Levine-Spound, J.D., 2019
“The Colonial Roots of Tunisia’s Criminalization of Homosexuality.”