2023 CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS NAVAL HISTORY ESSAY CONTEST:

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SUBJ/2023 CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS NAVAL HISTORY ESSAY CONTEST// 
 
POC/Ms. K. Denise Rucker Krepp//LOC: WASHINGTON, 
DC/EMAIL: kathryn.r.krepp.civ@us.navy.mil// 
 
RMKS/1.  The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) announces the 2023 CNO Naval 
History Essay Contest and calls for the submission of papers no later than 31 
May 2023. 
 
2.  The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) is the lead for the 
contest, and the U.S. Naval Institute (which has been sponsoring essay 
contests since 1878) is supporting. 
 
3.  The CNO invites entrants to submit essays that apply lessons from 
throughout naval history to solving today's Navy challenges.  Entrants should 
consider that today's era is marked by: 
    a.  Determined and increasingly aggressive efforts by China and Russia to 
    coordinate their respective instruments of power (e.g., economic, 
political, 
    and military) to compete for commercial, geostrategic, political, and 
military advantage and access. 
    b.  Chinese and Russian expansion across the spectrum of military 
operations (competition, crisis, and contingency) and domains (sea, air, 
land, space,cyberspace, and electromagnetic spectrum). 
    c.  The rise of China as an economic and maritime power and the 
importance of the maritime domain as well as the need for the U.S. to 
integrate Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard operations and multi-domain 
operational concepts and capabilities. 
    d.  The increased importance of navies, sea control, and allies and 
partners in a globalized world where 90 percent of world trade (by volume) 
and information travels via the seas or undersea cables. 
    e.  The proliferation of advanced weaponry and the erosion of key U.S. 
technological advantages that make it difficult for the U.S. to project power 
to manage crises, deter aggression, and reassure allies and partners. 
    f.  Fundamental strategic and technological shifts and advances that 
promise to change the character and conduct of naval warfare and challenge 
the Navy's ability to adapt conceptually and materially. 
 
4.  CNOs Intent:  Engage and leverage the intellectual talents of the members 
of the U.S. maritime services (i.e., the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard 
as well as the Merchant Marine) and students, as defined below, to provide 
insights and catalyze discussion on how to establish and maintain maritime 
superiority in an era of great power competition. 
 
5.  Eligibility.  Essays will be accepted from entrants qualified in the 
Professional Category, the Rising Category, or the Student Category. 
    a.  Professional Category: 
        (1) Historians, professors, history curators, archivists, and persons 
        with history-related doctoral degrees; 
        (2) Authors of books on naval history (not including self-published 
        works); or 
        (3) Civilians who have published articles in an established 
        historical or naval journal or magazine. 
    b.  Rising Category: Those that do not fall in the Professional Category     
and are either: 
        (1) Active duty, reservists, veterans, and federal civilian personnel 
of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine; or 
        (2) Members of foreign militaries that have orders and are serving in 
an official billet in one of the above Services. 
    c.  Midshipmen and Cadet Category: 
        (1) Students enrolled at the United States Naval Academy, United 
States Coast Guard Academy, the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and 
the State Maritime Academies or 
        (2) Students enrolled in an Official Naval ROTC Program. 
 
6.  Submission Requirements: 
    a.  Deadline:  2359 Eastern Standard Time, 31 May 2023. 
    b.  Word Count:  Excluding footnotes, endnotes, or sources, no more than 
3,500 words for Professional Category essays and no more than 3,000 words for 
Rising Category essays. 
    c.  Co-authoring:  For the Rising Historian category, an essay may be  
co-authored, but both authors have to be qualified in the Rising Category. 
    d.  Submissions must be the authors or co-authors original work, neither 
previously published nor currently under consideration for publication, nor 
previously submitted to the CNO Naval History Essay Contest. 
    e.  Entrants may submit multiple essays, but the judging panel will 
select only one winning essay per entrant. 
    f.  Essays shall be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word 
attachment via the appropriate link: Professional Category 
        (https://www.usni.org/essay-contests/2022/2022-cno-naval-history-
essay-contest-professional-historian) or Rising Category 
        (https://www.usni.org/essay-contests/2022/2022-cno-naval-history-
essay-contest-rising-historian).  When filling out the electronic form, 
        the short biography should detail the authors or author’s eligibility 
for the contest. 
    g.  On the essays title page, include the word count (excluding  
footnotes/endnotes, and sources).  Essays are judged in the blind; please do 
not include the name of the author or authors anywhere in the essay. 
 
7.  Essays will be judged on the following criteria: 
    a.  Relevance to the topic; 
    b.  Readability; 
    c.  Thoroughness of research; 
    d.  Quality of insights based on historical events; and 
    e.  Uniqueness and novelty of ideas presented. 
 
8.  All essays will be judged in the blind.  A six-person panel will select 
the winning essay, the second-place essay, and the third-place essay for the 
Rising Category, while a different six-person panel will select the winning 
and runner-up essays in the Professional Category. 
 
9.  The winning authors will receive: 
    a.  Invitational travel orders to the 2023 CNO Naval History Essay 
Contest Awards Reception (to be determined) to meet the CNO and potentially 
present their papers. 
    b.  Cash prizes (courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute).  (Note: cash 
prizes of co-authors will be split equally): 
        (1) First Place - $5,000 (Professional and Rising Historians); 
        (2) First Place - $4,000 (Students); 
        (3) Second Place - $2,500 (Professional and Rising Historians); 
        (4) Second Place - $2,000 (Students); 
        (5) Third Place - $1,500 (Rising Historian); and 
        (6) Third Place - $1,000 (Students). 
    c.  Publication of the essays in the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings 
and Naval History periodicals (first-place essays) and on the NHHC website 
(all winning essays).  Some non-winning essays may also be selected for 
publication. 
    d.  Copper sheathing from USS CONSTITUTION (provided by NHHC). 
    e.  Recognition on NHHCs website. 
    f.  A one-year U.S. Naval Institute membership and a one-year 
subscription to Naval History magazine (courtesy of the U.S. Naval 
Institute). 
 
10.  Responsibilities: 
    a.  Director, NHHC shall: 
        (1) Coordinate receipt, acknowledgment, and blind judging of 
submissions; 
        (2) Nominate two senior staff members to serve as judges; one for    
each category. 
        (3) Coordinate with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 
(OPNAV), U.S. Naval Academy, Naval War College, Naval Postgraduate School, 
and the U.S. Naval Institute, each of which shall nominate two judges, one 
for each category; 
        (4) Coordinate announcing the contest winners; 
        (5) Coordinate the 2023 CNO Naval History Essay Contest Awards 
Reception with the U.S. Naval Institute and invitational travel for the 
winning authors; 
        (6) Coordinate publication of winning and selected essays; and 
        (7) Capture and forward lessons learned. 
 
11.  For more details about the contest, please 
visithttps://www.history.navy.mil/get-involved/essay-contest.html or 
https://www.usni.org/essay-contests. 
For questions, please contact Ms. K. Denise Rucker Krepp, 
NHHC: email: kathryn.r.krepp.civ@us.navy.mil.  
For advice and guidance on writing essays, please email 
essayquestions@usni.org. 
 
12.  Released by Mr. Andrew S. Haeuptle, Director, Navy Staff.// 
 
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