Earlier this year, The Strategy Bridge asked university and professional military education students to participate in our fifth annual student writing contest on the subject of strategy. The response was amazing, with more submissions than our small team of volunteers could handle.

Fortunately, we had an amazing set of partners in support from higher and military education institutions around the world. In particular, we'd like to thank the panel of judges who helped us choose the winners, including key leaders from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Air University, the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Marine Corps University, the U.S. Naval War College, the U.S. National War College, Rutgers University, the Australian Defense College, and the Canadian Conferences of Defense Associations Institute.

 More importantly, we would like to announce and congratulate our contest winners:

• First Place: Anna Cole, Wheaton College, “Swiftly Changing Tides: Reorienting U.S. Foreign Policy Around the Threat of Climate Change”

• Second Place: Jonathan Dixon, U.S. National War College, “Old Enemies, New Friends: Repairing Japanese-Korean Relations and Moving to a Networked Approach Towards America’s Alliances”

• Third Place: Michael Brodka, Georgetown University, “Arctic Competition, Climate Migration, and Rare Earths: Strategic Implications for the United States Amidst Climate Change”

• Third Place: Laura Keenan, U.S. National War College, “The Lion and the Mouse: The Need for Greater U.S. Focus in The Pacific Islands”

• Third Place: Sam Wilkins, Johns Hopkins University, “To the Last Bullet: The Cold War’s Last Gasps and Enduring Impact in the Horn of Africa”

• Honorable Mention: Jane Butler, Ross Coffey, Kathryn Pegues, and John Salvador, “Data Analytics in the Combatant Command: Improving the Approach to Decision-Making”

• Honorable Mention: Michael Gardiner, “Relational Strategic Culture, Strategy-Making, and China”

• Honorable Mention: Craig Giorgis, “Strategic Drift in Afghanistan, from Bonn to the National Elections”

• Honorable Mention: Christopher Shaw, “The Topography of Geopolitics: Net Resources and the Past, Present, and Future of American Power”

• Honorable mention: Elena Wicker, “Michelangelos of Strategy: Linguistic Chisels, Sculptural Forms, and the Art of Strategy”

We'll publish their essays, as well as some of the other submissions deserving an honorable mention, in a series beginning on 30 August 2021. We appreciate all the great submissions from the contest participants!

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Header Image: Specialist Stuart Peterson writes in his journal, Fallujah, Iraq 2004 (DVIDS HUB).