The Aoki Center is proud to host the Angela Harris Prize for Critical Race Scholarship. The prize is named after Professor Emerita Angela Harris, who has written extensively in the field of critical legal theory, examining how law sometimes reinforces and sometimes challenges subordination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, class, and other dimensions of power and identity. Through her scholarly work and mentorship, generations of students have taken up the pursuit of examining the law through a critical lens.
As an acknowledgement of the impact that Professor Harris has made at King Hall, the Aoki Center dedicated the first ever prize for critical race scholarship in her honor. The competition is open to all students enrolled at the UC Davis School of Law. The Harris Prize will be awarded during the Public Interest Graduation for the paper which makes the most significant scholarly contribution in the field of critical race theory.
Students may nominate their own work or a professor may nominate a student's work. The King Hall community will receive a call for nominations in January 2027. For more information, please email [email protected].
2026 Award Recipient
Cesar A. Ledesma, Class of 2026
"Conditional Belonging: Modern Immigration Enforcement in Public Institutions Is Leading to the 'Social Death' of U.S.-Citizen Children in Mixed-Status Families"
2026 Honorable Mention
Ricardo Martinez, Class of 2027
"Accountability Post Trumpism: A Constitutional Model for a Justice-First Truth Commission"
2025 Award Recipient
Jordyn Dominique Windom, Class of 2025
"2025 Mandate for Community: Confronting the Conservative Promise"
Jordyn's paper will be published in the UC Davis Social Justice Law Review's Winter 2026 edition. Read her paper:
2025 Angela Harris Prize Paper.pdf
2024 Award Recipient
Bo Yan Moran, Class of 2024
"Gold Rush Anti-Chinese Racism: The Birth of San Francisco’s Housing Crisis"
Bo Yan's paper was published in the UC Davis Social Justice Law Review's Winter 2025 edition. (Read her paper.)