Institute Sponsors Powell Essay Contest

The contest, honoring the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, encourages military and civilian professionals to analyze and discuss joint issues, institute spokesman retired Navy Capt. James A. Barber Jr. said. The top three prizes are $2,500, $2,000 and $1,000, and publication in the institute's Proceedings magazine.

Contest officials said essays:

• Must be about combat readiness in a joint contest, which includes persuasive discussions of tactics, strategy, weaponry, combat training or other issues involving two or more services.
• May be heavy in single-service detail, but should have a joint application in terms of force structure, doctrine, operations or organization for combat.
• May address hardware and procedural interoperability within the context of combat readiness.
• Must be original, unpublished work and cannot exceed 3,000 words.

The author's name should not appear on the essay. Entrants should assign their essays a motto and a title, both of which should appear on a title page along with an exact word count.

The motto should also appear by itself on the outside of an accompanying sealed envelope containing a sheet of paper with the author's name, address, telephone and Social Security number, short biography, the essay title and the motto. The envelope is opened only after the essays are judged.

Two typewritten, double-spaced copies (include on 3.5-inch disk if composed on an IBM-compatible computer or word processor) should be submitted.

Send entries postmarked by April 1 to:

For more information on contest rules, visit the Naval Institute web page at www.usni.org.

The institute is a 124-year-old, 90,000-member professional society and nonprofit organization created to further the understanding of the maritime services and advance the knowledge of sea power. It maintains research archives, hosts seminars and publishes books and Proceedings and Naval History magazines.

(From J-Scope, the newspaper of the Joint Staff)