Sutin Prize
The Sutin Prize is presented annually to the JURIST volunteer law student or students who best demonstrate outstanding commitment to the organization’s public service mission. The award is named in memory of Anthony L. Sutin (1959-2002), who dedicated his career to public service, legal education, and providing critical access to legal information. Sutin, an election law attorney, worked for the US Department of Justice and at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, DC, before going on to become a law professor at and eventually dean of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. He was also the very heart and soul of JURIST’s Bush v. Gore 2000 presidential election recount coverage. Even before the turn of the millennium, he was a great believer in JURIST’s ability to make critical and fast-developing legal issues accessible to a global audience. Tragically, Dean Sutin was killed in a shooting at the Appalachian School of Law in 2002. His widow, Margaret Lawton, very kindly consented to JURIST naming this award for him.
The 2025 recipient of the Sutin Prize is:
Derren Chan
Derren Chan graduated from the University of Hong Kong and the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, in May 2025. He worked with JURIST from his fourth year of law school and served as JURIST’s News Managing Editor in 2024-2025. Derren says he is extremely grateful to JURIST for the exposure to the legal development beyond jurisdictional boundaries, the invaluable guidance from professional staff and his predecessors, and long-lasting connections with like-minded law students from across the globe. He aspires to become a litigator in Canada, Hong Kong, and potentially beyond.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Sutin Prize.
Lauren Ban
Rebekah Yeager-Malkin
Hannah Brem
Sambhav Sharma
Vishwajeet Deshmukh
Gabrielle Wast
Michael Barber
Tim Zubizarreta
Erin M. Holliday
Autumn Callan
Kelly Cullen
Ram Eachambadi
David Rodkey
Joseph Macklin
Taylor Gillan
Maria Coladonato
Alex Ferraro
Arjun Mishra
Jaimie Cremeans
Sean Gallagher
Clay Flaherty
Dan Taglioli
Dwyer Arce
Josh Sanders
Ingrid Burke
Andrew Morgan
Mark Hamilton
Devin Montgomery
Caitlin Price
Jaime Jansen
Joshua Pantesco
Brett Murphy
Andrew Wood
Jeannie Shawl Award
The Jeannie Shawl Award is presented annually to the JURIST volunteer law student or students who best demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation, initiative, and selfless dedication to JURIST’s mission. The Award is named for Jeannie Shawl, a member of JURIST’s very first class of law student writers and JURIST’s first-ever Executive Director. Her leadership, initiative, innovative spirit, and selfless dedication transformed JURIST from a limited academic project to an international publisher of legal news and analysis.
The 2025 recipient of the Jeannie Shawl Award is:
Nova Kruijning
Nova Kruijning is a Senior News Editor for JURIST. Nova is a graduate of Maastricht University in The Netherlands, where she completed her Bachelor’s degree in European & International law. After completing her undergraduate degree, she pursued the post-graduate Diploma of Law in the UK. She has a keen interest in international law and global affairs, and after completing her Masters’ degree in 2025, would like to work in the field of international law alongside continuing to pursue her interest in legal journalism.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Jeannie Shawl Award.
James Joseph
Katherine Gemmingen
Akshita Tiwary
Neelabh Bist
Joshua Cossin
Vishwajeet Deshmukh
Gabrielle Wast
Tim Zubizarreta
Erin M. Holliday
Allison Hall
Steven Wildberger
Josh Guckert
Kimberly Bennett
Elizabeth Imbarlina
Julia Zebley
Greg Johnson Collaboration Award
The Greg Johnson Collaboration Award is named for Professor Greg Johnson, Director of the Legal Writing Program at Vermont Law School, whose foresight, enthusiasm, and commitment to the greater good of his law students set JURIST on a collaborative multi-institutional and multi-jurisdictional path that in unexpectedly short order made it possible for JURIST to become a worldwide enterprise benefiting a range of law students and readers far broader than anything he or we ever imagined. Today Greg oversees a growing JURIST Chapter at Vermont, coordinating recruiting, being a mentor to students, and helping them organize chapter activities. We are immensely grateful for all he has done for his students and JURIST. As JURIST expands nationally and internationally, collaboration between members of our law student staff becomes more important than ever, not only for successful teamwork but also for building mutual understanding and empathy, as well as relational attitudes and capacities important for truly successful lawyers that we hope will last a lifetime. This award will be presented annually to the member or members of JURIST’s law student staff who best exemplify the collaborative nature and capacity-building initiative modeled by the award’s namesake Greg Johnson.
The 2025 recipient of the Greg Johnson Collaboration Award is:
Shashank Pandey
Shashank Pandey is JURIST’s Global Chief of Staff. Shashank is a fourth-year student at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, India, pursuing a law and humanities degree. He is interested in researching and writing about socio-legal issues, with a particular emphasis on using his writing to advocate for reforms. Shashank values the enriching experience gained at JURIST, particularly the chance to engage with passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds. Moving forward, Shashank is committed to amplifying voices from underrepresented regions and communities within the JURIST platform and bringing their rule of law issues to the forefront.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Greg Johnson Collaboration Award.
Aimee Woodmass
Lauren Ban
Edgar Odongo
Katherine Gemmingen
Akshita Tiwary
Kristen Doyan
Steve Herman Press Freedom Award
The Steve Herman Press Freedom Award goes to one or more JURIST correspondents who in the past year have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to providing local coverage of critical law-related developments occurring in their jurisdictions. It is named for Steve Herman, the JURIST Journalist in Residence for the 2022-2023 academic year. Steve is Chief National Correspondent for the Voice of America in Washington, DC, and was formerly VOA’s White House Bureau Chief. He spent more than a quarter of a century in Asia, including years of reporting from Tokyo and subsequently as a VOA correspondent and bureau chief in India, Korea and Thailand. Herman also served in 2016 as VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, based at the State Department. His travels have taken him to approximately 75 countries, doing on-scene reporting from combat zones, civil uprisings and areas struck by major natural disasters.
The 2025 recipients of the Steve Herman Award are:
Sharon Basch
Aynsley Genga
Sharon Basch graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in May 2025. Sharon had the privilege of working with JURIST for all three years of her law school career, first as a new writer, and later as a dispatcher for Pittsburgh reporting on the 2024 election, Washington D.C. reporting on House and Senate Committee Hearings and the Supreme Court, and Israel, reporting on the Judicial Crisis and later on the War following the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attacks. Additionally, Sharon enjoyed serving as a senior editor for long-form-content, helping to edit and write long-form features and commentary. She is incredibly grateful to JURIST for allowing her to pursue writing legal news from myriad avenues and credits JURIST as the most important and influential activity in her law school career.
Aynsley Genga is JURIST’s Chief of Staff for Correspondents. She is a graduate of the University of Nairobi School of Law and is currently at the Kenya School of Law undertaking the advocate training program. She is passionate about justice, equality, and democracy. As a committed advocate for the voiceless, she believes in using the law and storytelling to amplify marginalized perspectives and drive social change.
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Steve Herman Press Freedom Award.
Marissa Zupancic
Justin Esiobu
David M. Crane Rule of Law Award
The David M. Crane Rule of Law Award goes to a JURIST journalist who, in the face of formidable obstacles, exhibits extraordinary dedication and integrity in uncovering and scrutinizing critical rule of law issues. David M. Crane was the founding chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal in West Africa called the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It successfully prosecuted those who bore the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the first sitting African head of state in history, President Charles Taylor. He recently published a book on his experience there called Every Living Thing, the first time a prosecutor has written about his daily experiences seeking justice for victims of atrocity. Dr. Crane served 30 years in the US federal government prior to his selection by Kofi Annan to be the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court. A member of the Senior Executive Service of the United States, he retired from federal service as the Director of the Office of Intelligence Review in the Department of Defense. Since leaving West Africa, Dr. Crane has been a leading force in seeking justice for the people of Syria through the Syrian Accountability Project and assisting in creating the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism for the Republic of Syria. The Syrian Accountability Project is part of the Global Accountability Network (which he founded) that also houses the Yemeni Accountability Project and the newly created Venezuelan Accountability Project, as well as the Uyghur and Ukrainian Accountability Projects. He recently retired as a professor at Syracuse University College of Law where he founded Impunity Watch. Dr. Crane is currently a distinguished scholar in residence at Syracuse University and an adjunct professor with the Washington College of Law of American University where he teaches international criminal practice.
The 2025 recipient of the David M. Crane Rule of Law Award is:
Sandar Linn
Sandar Linn is JURIST’s UK Chief of Staff. Sandar is a student at Newcastle Law School (GB).
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the David M. Crane Rule of Law Award.
Sara A.
Distinguished Alumni Award
JURIST, of course, engages law students while they are in law school, but law students graduate and go on to other things. Or at least that’s what usually happens in most other organizations. JURIST is different, however, in that many of our former law student staffers tend to stick around. In fact, several members of our professional staff and most members of our Board of directors are JURIST alumni. Some alumni continue to write and report for JURIST after they’ve graduated, and others continue to contribute in other ways. Each year, JURIST will recognize a member of our alumni who has gone above and beyond in contributing to JURIST even after leaving law school.
The 2025 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award is:
Ram Eachambadi
JURIST is honored to acknowledge past recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Sambhav Sharma
Erin Holliday
Ryan Olden
Maeve McDermott
Wohlmuth Awards
Wohlmuth Awards are given annually to select volunteer staff members to recognize extraordinary dedication. The award is named for Paul Wohlmuth, who was a professor at the University of San Diego Law School. Already in the early 1990s, even before JURIST had begun, he was a champion of innovative thinking in the law. Later in the decade, he established the Institute of Law & Systems Research, which was subsequently headed up by his partner Alice Anda and provided JURIST’s first seed funds.
The 2025 recipients of JURIST’s Wohlmuth Awards are:
- Halima Abena Kyerewah Adam – University of Cape Coast Faculty of Law, GH
- Salma Ben Souissi – Tunisia
- Tyler Li – University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, CA
- Rahel Helmhart – Leiden Law School, NL
- Chloe Miracle-Rutledge – Georgetown University Law Center, US
- David Odero – Kisii University School of Law, KE
- Lana Osei – Ghana
- Pitasanna Shanmugathas – University of Windsor Faculty of Law, CA
- Mykyta Vorobiov – Bard College Berlin, DE
- Madeline Yingling – University of Pittsburgh School of Law, US