Deadline: March 31, 2025
Award Amount: $5,000 per finalist and $50,000 Grant Prize
Match: None
Eligible Entities: State, City, Township, and County Governments, Higher Education Entities, Nonprofits,
Description: The Access to Justice Prize is a prize competition to promote innovative solutions to address the access to justice crisis. The 2025 Prize will focus on solutions that impact rural communities. In line with this purpose, the Access to Justice Prize invites community-based and non-profit organizations; academic institutions; and local, state, tribal and territorial governments—including courts, public defender offices, and prosecutorial agencies—to submit proposals for an innovative idea to expand access to justice. The Access to Justice Prize competition has a one-year prize cycle, from January to December, with two judging rounds. At the first round, a number of finalists will be selected and awarded a finalist prize of $5,000. The finalists will further develop their submission during a six-month Refinement Phase and will then compete in a final round judging competition—the Access to Justice Prize Showcase—for the grand prize of $50,000. Judging criteria for the finalist selection phase of the challenge are as follows:
Engagement: Does the submission reflect engagement with a broad range of stakeholders, including communities or organizations that represent people likely to be impacted by the proposal, or demonstrate a plan to ensure such engagement?
Innovation: Does the submission reflect a creative, new proposed idea for a solution to pressing barriers to equal access to justice that has not been done within the applicant’s jurisdiction, even if it has been done in other jurisdictions?
Implementation, Feasibility, and Sustainability: Does the submission include an implementation plan? Does the submission reflect data and/or analysis of potential barriers and strategic efforts to mitigate those barriers?  Does the submission address how the solution will be sustained?
Clear Goal and Measures for Success: Does the submission include a clear goal or outcome sought to expand access to justice for rural communities? Would the proposed impact be significant and long-term? Does the submission establish methods to determine impact or success both in the short-term and long-term?  How will implementation processes and outcomes be documented?