Professor Lucas Osborn chosen as inaugural recipient of Pryor Prize for academic writing

RALEIGH - Campbell Law School Professor Lucas Osborn has been chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Pryor Prize, Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced.

The Pryor Prize, a new $10,000 annual award for the best piece of academic writing by a faculty member, was established in January 2026 by an anonymous alumni donor in honor of Professor Emeritus Scott Pryor, who retired in 2025.

A committee composed of Pryor, Dean Emerita Melissa Essary and the donor independently evaluated the four papers submitted for the prize, Pryor said.

"We appreciated the opportunity to read all of them and each of us agreed the best was Lucas Osborn, 'Copyright, Creativity, and Skill: Authorship and AI-Assisted Works,' 12 Belmont L. Rev 594 (2025)," Pryor wrote in an email.

"I'm honored (and amazed) to have received the inaugural Pryor Prize for academic writing at Campbell Law School," Osborn wrote in an email. "I want to express my sincere gratitude to the committee for the work they do for our community and for selecting my article as the recipient of the Pryor Prize! It is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition, especially given the high quality of scholarship produced by my colleagues.

"I would also like to thank the founder of the Pryor Prize for establishing and supporting this award. Academic research can sometimes feel like an obscure endeavor, but this prize is such an encouragement to our community! I am grateful to be among those who have benefited from this profound commitment."

A member of the Class of 2019, who would like to remain anonymous, chose the name to honor Pryor, who taught her in multiple classes. While in law school, the alumna also served as Professor Pryor's Teaching Scholar, and the two have remained close, Leonard said.

"As a law student, our alumna was impressed with the rigor of Campbell's academic program," Leonard explained. "This major gift of $50,000 is made with the intent that Campbell Law will use it to retain its strong faculty by rewarding the pursuit of academic excellence."

The Pryor Prize is in recognition of the academic excellence provided through Professor Pryor's instruction and will be used to distribute $10,000 annually for five years to one or multiple Campbell Law faculty member(s) who demonstrate(s) academic excellence through writing and/or research.

Any article published by a Campbell Law faculty member between June 1 and May 31 of an academic year is eligible for consideration, according to the initiative.

The prize will officially be awarded at a dinner later this summer.

Pryor retired in December 2024 after nearly a decade of teaching at Campbell Law. Learn more about him, his scholarship and his career at this link.

ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of graduating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

Lisa Snedeker Writer