On January 3, 2003, in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, the first Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award was presented to Professor Richard Neumann of Hofstra University School of Law. Professor Neumann was chosen for his outstanding contributions to the improvement of the field of Legal Writing. Among his many contributions are authoring and co-authoring legal writing texts, working to help establish the teaching of legal writing as a respected academic discipline, and counselling innumerable individual teachers over the years.

The award was presented by Lisa Blackwell, Professor Blackwell's widow, at a reception at the Sea Catch Restaurant in Georgetown. Lisa Blackwell noted, "Tom always considered legal writing a crucial component of a sound legal education. I am pleased that ALWD and LWI have decided to honor him by naming their annual award, The Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award."