Journal Announces NATO-Anniversary Essay Contest

Editors of the Strategy Bridge on-line journal have announced an essay contest celebrating the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In the announcement, they solicit essays regarding the past, present, and future of the organization:

From its humble origins at Dunkirk in 1947 to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty two years later and throughout the long decades of the Cold War, NATO has been one of the most successful collective security architectures in history. Today it faces challenges it was never designed to address and a growing number of policymakers who question its very purpose. Whether NATO survives for another 70 years seems very much an open question. The Strategy Bridge looks to its international community to offer perspectives on all of these issues. 

Word count is 2,000 to 5,000. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, with notification of acceptance elsewhere. New and unpublished work only. Reformatted academic papers are acceptable. Use Chicago Manual of Style.

Participation in the contest is open to all writers, regardless of military status, academic discipline, citizenship, or professional practice. Deadline for the contest is Sept. 30, 2019. Announcement of winners will take place in November 2019.

First-prize is $500 and publication on-line; second-prize is $300 and publication on-line; third-prize is $100 and publication on-line.

The Strategy Bridge regularly serves an audience of "national security professionals," regarding topics of "national security, military affairs, and strategy." Outside of contests, the journal is also a reliable non-paying market for 1,000- to 2,000-word essays and book reviews. Strategy Bridge editors and other affiliates are heavily engaged in social media, at times sharing internal editorial observations and discussions with the public.

Criteria to be considered by a panel of unnamed contest judges may include: "originality, substance of argument, style, and contribution to advancing the understanding and practice of strategy." A list of topical prompts provided by the editors include:

• The history of the NATO alliance, its successes and its failures
• The impacts of previous additions and the prospects for future additions to the alliance
• Changes in the objectives of the NATO alliance and what those mean
• What the NATO alliance means for theories of international relations, international security, etc.
• NATO at War—The Alliance in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and elsewhere
• Differing national perspectives on the NATO alliance
• NATO organization past, present, and future
• E-mail contest entries to: submissions AT thestrategybridge DOT org

A 2-page PDF announcement of the NATO-themed contest is available here.

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