Honoring Achievement Honoring Achievement An important part of our mission is to recognize distinguished accomplishments in the field of education law. This page describes our awards program. Also view comprehensive lists of individual award winners. We welcome nominations and invite ELA members to get involved in committees.
View All Honorees Beckham Award Beckham Award Winners 1987 Rosette Liberman 1990 Terrence Leas 1991 Jill Jones White 1992 Anne Browning Masters 1993 James Thomason Jeffers 1994 Julie Fisher Mead 1996 Patricia Todd Bausch 1997 Susan Clark 1998 Douglas R. Pearson 1999 Cheri C. Magill 2000 Theresa B. Harrison 2001 Kerry Brian Melear 2002 Watt Lesley Black, Jr. 2003 Richard Elliott Day 2004 Judith Risch 2005 John LaNear 2006 Rodney Marty 2007 Laurence B. Alexander 2008 Howard J. Eberwein, III 2009 Scott R. Bauries 2011 Janet R. Decker 2012 Erica Salkin 2013 Robert Fitzgerald 2014 Michelle Gough McKeown 2015 Maria Lewis 2016 Marilyn S. Anglade 2020 Patrick Ober Goldberg Award Goldberg Award Winners 2007 Goodwin Liu 2008 James E. Ryan 2009 Benjamin M. Superfine 2010 Kristi L. Bowman 2011 Martha L. Minow 2012 Eloise Pasachoff 2013 Anne Newman 2014 Michael Olivas 2015 Derek W. Black 2016 Kimberly Jenkins Robinson and Perry A. Zirkel 2017 Karen M. Tani 2018 Barbara Fedders 2019 Maryam Ahranjani 2020 Justin Driver Joseph Award Joseph Award Winners 2008 Kimberly Gee 2009 Lauren S. Foley 2010 Caitlan M. Cullitan 2011 Dylan P. Grady 2012 Calanthe A. Cope-Kasten 2013 Matthew Saleh 2014 Tyler Brewer 2015 Cerin Lindgrensavage 2016 Stephen S. Worthington 2017 Daisha L. Hodges 2018 Sarah Loy 2020 Sierra Brown McGhehey Award McGhehey Award Winners 1985 Roger M. Shaw 1986 E. Edmund Reutter, Jr. 1987 Irving C. Evers 1988 M. Chester Nolte 1989 Walter L. Hetzel 1990 Stephen B. Thomas 1991 Kelly Frels 1992 Martha M. McCarthy 1993 Martha L. Ware 1994 Floyd G. Delon 1995 August W. Steinhilber 1996 Joseph C. Beckham 1997 Nelda Cambron-McCabe 1998 John Lewis 1999 D. Parker Young 2000 Perry Zirkel 2001 Clifford P. Hooker 2002 Charles J. Russo 2003 Jeffrey J. Horner 2004 Ralph D. Mawdsley 2005 Richard J. Dickinson 2006 Philip T.K. Daniel 2007 M. David Alexander 2008 Allan G. Osborne, Jr. 2009 R. Craig Wood 2010 Terrence Leas 2011 David M. Schimmel 2013 P. Tyson Bennett 2014 Richard Fossey 2015 Susan G. Clark 2016 Lois F. Berlin 2017 William E Thro 2018 Patrick D. Pauken 2019 Lynn Rossi Scott Steinhilber Award Steinhilber Award Winners 2015 Kevin M. McKenna 2017 Husch Blackwell LLP 2018 Michelle Cooper, Karen Glasser Sharp, Sara Bevins, Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Thomas M. Fisher, Lara Klangeneckert, Julia C. Payne 2020 Richard Katskee
Steven S. Goldberg Award Steven S. Goldberg Award Distinguished Scholarship This award is presented annually in recognition of an outstanding article, book, book chapter, or other form of scholarly legal writing in the field of education law. It must be a work of scholarly excellence that has an impact on education law, published in the past two calendar years prior to the deadline, and written by an individual author. Nominate a colleague
George Jay Joseph Award George Jay Joseph Award Education Law Writing The purpose of this competition is to generate increased interest in and recognition of education law among not only graduate students in schools of education but also to students in law schools. The winner is recognized and present at the annual conference and the manuscript will be published in the Journal of Law and Education. The subject matter must address one or more legal issues within any of the various contexts of education, including public and private K-12 schools and institutions of higher education, especially current and emerging issues. Nominate a colleague
Joseph C. Beckham Award Joseph C. Beckham Award Dissertation of the Year To be considered, a dissertation must have a theoretical base; be conceptually clear and address an important problem or hypothesis; contain a comprehensive and relevant review of applicable literature; demonstrate a methodologically sound approach and present a cogent analysis of data and show significant results and discussion; and, shall be written in scholarly style with appropriate documentation. Nominate a colleague
M.A. McGhehey Award M.A. McGhehey Award Distinguished Service This award is presented to individuals with a long history of service to ELA and with an accomplished record of contribution to the field of education law. Their work must have had an impact nationally in the field of law and education and should be recognized through other national organizations, by briefs filed in high courts, or by other noteworthy contributions in the field. Nominate a colleague
August Steinhilber Award August Steinhilber Award Outstanding Appellate Brief This award recognizes outstanding brief writing in an appellate court in a case concerning education law. Any ELA member may nominate a brief, and the selection committee will review briefs proactively. The author(s) need not be ELA member(s). Both amicus curiae briefs and party briefs are eligible. Because ELA is a nonpartisan forum, there will be no bias in favor of or against a particular legal position or party. Appellate briefs filed with the court between July 1 of last year and June 30 of the current year are eligible for nomination. The award is granted on the basis of merit as determined by the selection committee. Nominate a colleague
