The Jamie Grodsky Prize for Environmental Law Scholarship

Professor Jamie Grodsky

The Jamie Grodsky Prize for Environmental Law Scholarship honors the life and legacy of Professor Jamie A. Grodsky, a pioneering scholar known for her passion, wisdom, and dedication to environmental law. Established through a generous gift from her father, Dr. Gerold Grodsky, and memorial contributions from friends, the $5,000 prize supports and recognizes outstanding scholarship by GW Law students on pressing environmental issues. Awarded annually at the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium, the prize encourages original, publishable work that advances the theory or practice of environmental law.

The Grodsky Prize is a fitting tribute to a remarkable professor and cherished friend, well-known for her kindness, dedication, wisdom, and passion for environmental law.

The determination of whether a paper falls within the category of environmental law will be within the discretion of the competition jury, but the term is intended to be liberally interpreted to include scholarship in the fields of pollution control, natural resources, sustainable development, smart growth, agriculture, energy, land use, and animal law.

The winner is selected by a jury consisting of at least one GW Law faculty member, a faculty member from another law school, and a GW Law alumnus. Criteria for selecting the winner include originality, innovation, depth of scholarship, the importance of the environmental issue addressed, and the quality of writing and analysis. In its sole discretion, the committee may decide that no paper merits the award in a particular year. The Jamie Grodsky Prize is awarded each year at an awards ceremony held in connection with the law school's annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium. 

Recent Jamie Grodsky Prize Winners

 

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2025 Grodsky Award winner, Coleman Wheeler with two Environmental & Energy Law Professors

Coleman Wheeler, JD '25

2025 Winner

Regenerative Waste: How the Doctrine of Waste Can Incentive the Adoption of Regenerative Agriculture Practices.

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2024 Grodsky Award winner, James Crisafulli with three Environmental & Energy Law Professors

James Crisafulli, JD '24

2024 Winner

From a Shield to a Sword: Using the Dormant Commerce Clause to Challenge State Laws Promoting Fossil Fuels, 59 U.S.F. L. Rev. 130 (2025). 

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2023 Grodsky Award winner, Shana Herman with Dean Matthew and Professor Glicksman.

Shana Herman, JD ‘23

2023 Winner

Conservation Co-Governance as a Cure: Investigating Aotearoa New Zealand’s Conservation Co-Governance Model as a Blueprint for Restoring Navajo Sovereignty in Managing Canyon de Chelly, 35 Vill. Env’t L.J. 205 (2024).

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2022 Grodsky Award winner, Christina Morgan with Dean Matthew and Professor Glicksman

Christina Morgan, JD '22

2022 Winner

Using Uganda's Regulations as the Basis for a Standalone Legal Mechanism to Regulate Access to and Benefit-Sharing of Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge in the United Republic of Tanzania, 54 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 285 (2022-2023)

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Laura Cahier

Laura Cahier, LLM '21

2021 Winner

Environmental Justice in the United Nations Human Rights System: Challenges and Opportunities for the Protection of Indigenous Women against Environmental Violence 

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Aaron Aber

Aaron Aber, JD '20

2020 Winner

We Could Stop the Fire: Re-Thinking U.S. Wildfire Management and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

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Christopher DelGiorno

Christopher DelGiorno, LLM '18

2019 Winner

Closing the Loop: The Folly of Burn Pits and Achieving Sustainable Military Contingency Operations Through Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

For Students: How to Apply

Papers eligible for the $5,000 Grodsky Prize for Environmental Law Scholarship must have been submitted for a grade between January 1 and December 31 of the calendar year immediately preceding the date of submission. Eligible papers include those written in conjunction with a course (including Independent Legal Writing or Graduate Independent Legal Writing), law review or journal articles, seminar papers, Practicum papers, and theses. Papers may reflect discussions with faculty members, student law review editors, or both. The version of the article submitted for judging, however, may not be the product of significant editorial changes by a person or persons other than the student author. Most of the work on the paper must be done during the time the author is a student at GW Law.

Papers should be between 30 and 75 double-spaced pages in length. No entry may be published or accepted for publication at the time of submission for the competition. Submissions are limited to one paper per student. Multiple submissions will disqualify the student from the competition.

In order to be considered for the Prize, your paper must be submitted to Elaine Valmonte (evalmonteatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (evalmonte[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu)) with a blank cover sheet giving your GWID number as the only identification, between January 1 and January 15, but no later than January 15 at 5 pm ET. Any paper that includes the author's name or other identifying information on any page will be automatically disqualified. Questions may be directed to Assistant Dean Randall Abate (randall [dot] abateatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (randall[dot]abate[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu)).

evalmonteatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (Submit Paper)

For Donors: How to Support the Scholarship

The Jamie Grodsky Prize for Environmental Law Scholarship, funded by a generous gift from her father, Dr. Gerold Grodsky, and memorial gifts from her friends, commemorates the life of Professor Jamie A. Grodsky who passed away in May 2010. The prize recognizes an original paper by a GW Law student in the environmental field as judged by a panel. The Grodsky Prize is presented in conjunction with the annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Conference.

If you are interested in donating to the memorial fund, use the Donate Now button below. In the field where it asks for the indication of donation designation/location within the Law School, list "Jamie Grodsky Prize Fund."

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