AWARDS

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 2026 recipient of the Sutin Prize is:

Madeline Yingling

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 2026 recipients of the Jeannie Shawl Award are:

Pitasanna Shanmugathas
Joshua Villanueva

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 2026 recipient of the Greg Johnson Collaboration Award is:

Lana Osei

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 2026 recipient of the Steve Herman Award is:

Lela Reynolds

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 2026 recipient of the David M. Crane Rule of Law Award is:

AmirAli Maleki

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 2026 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award is:

Dwyer Arce