Monterey Institute of International Studies - an affiliate of Middlebury College

The Nonproliferation Review

A refereed journal concerned with the spread of nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons. Featuring viewpoints, articles, and reports on programs, treaties and export controls, terrorism, and the economic and environmental effects of weapons proliferation.
Updated: Jan 28, 2010

Doreen and Jim McElvany
2010 Nonproliferation Challenge

A competition with a $10,000 grand prize to find and publish the most outstanding new scholarly papers in the nonproliferation field.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies strives to combat the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons to state and non-state actors by training the next generation of nonproliferation specialists and disseminating timely information based on cutting-edge research and analysis.

In order to spur new thinking and policy initiatives to address today's most urgent proliferation threats, CNS and its journal, the Nonproliferation Review, created an essay competition to identify and publish the most outstanding new scholarly papers in the nonproliferation field. Our priority is to generate new insights and specific recommendations for resolving today's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons challenges, including those involving both state and non-state actors.

Eligibility

This competition is open to persons worldwide, except for current faculty, staff, interns, and students of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, past winners of this competition, and anyone involved in reviewing or judging submissions. To be eligible for the student prize, an entrant must be enrolled at a college or university at the time of submission. A team of authors comprising one or more students and non-students is not eligible for the student prize.

* Students are eligible for the grand prize.

How to Enter

On or before May 31, 2010, e-mail your entry to essaycontest@miis.edu. A valid entry consists of two parts:

  1. a completed official cover sheet [Word DOC]
    indicating the name(s) of the author(s), address, telephone number(s), e-mail address(es), indication of status as a student at the time of entry (yes or no, undergraduate or graduate), date of birth, title of the submission, and a one paragraph biography of the author(s) (the cover sheet is the only place where this information should appear); and
  2. the submitted essay.

Submission guidelines

Potential entrants are strongly encouraged to review recently published articles in The Nonproliferation Review, including previous winners of this competition, to become familiar with our style and format, as well as recent scholarship in this area.
Entries should not exceed 10,000 words (including endnotes), or approximately 40 double-spaced pages. All entries must be the original, unpublished work of the author(s) and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

All entries must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document and must conform to The Nonproliferation Review's style guidelines.

To preserve anonymity, self-referential endnotes and excessive citation of one's own work are discouraged.

Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will not be considered.

Submission deadline

11:59 PM (Eastern time, North America), May 31, 2010

Judging

Upon receipt, all submissions will be logged, acknowledged via e-mail, and assigned a unique entry number that will replace the cover sheet for identification purposes. Anonymized submissions will then be forwarded to The Nonproliferation Review's editors for screening to ensure compliance with all competition rules. Submissions that do not comply with the rules will not be considered.

Once all submissions have been logged and screened, they will be forwarded to the judging panel, comprised of selected members of the CNS staff, the Review editorial board, and other experts in the field.

Judging will be based equally on the following criteria: originality, creativity, adherence to the theme, writing quality, and strength of recommendations. CNS reserves the right to choose fewer than two winners if, in its sole discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified entries. Judges' decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to this competition.

Winner notification

Winners will be notified by telephone, mail, and/or e-mail on or before July 15, 2010.

If a winner cannot be contacted within 14 days of the initial attempt, CNS reserves the right to disqualify the designated winner and award the prize to a runner-up selected by the judges. Information about the winning entries will be posted on the competition web site on or before July 15, 2010.

Only authors whose essays become finalists will be eligible to receive critical feedback about their entries.

Prizes

The McElvany Prize of $10,000 will be awarded to the author(s) of the best paper from all entries, as determined by the panel of judges. After the McElvany Prize winner is selected, non-student entries, which will not be identified to the judges as such until this stage, will be set aside and the judges will select the best overall student essay (or the second best, if a student submission wins the Grand Prize) for the $1,000 Outstanding Student Essay Prize.

In the case of an entry with multiple authors, the prize will be divided equally between the authors.

The winning papers will become the property of CNS and may be published in a future issue of The Nonproliferation Review, which will have sole discretion over the manner and timing of publication. Any and all federal, state, and local taxes on a prize, and any other costs, fees, and expenses associated with the acceptance and use of a prize are the sole responsibility of the winners.

Ownership/Use

All submissions shall become the property of CNS and The Nonproliferation Review for a period not to exceed six months from the submission deadline of May 31, 2010. All rights will revert to the author(s) by that date or upon receipt of a letter from The Nonproliferation Review releasing such rights, whichever comes first.

General/Legal

By participating, each entrant agrees: (a) to abide by these rules and the decisions of CNS and the judges, which shall be final and binding in all respects relating to this competition; (b) to release, discharge and hold harmless CNS, and its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, and the respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents and representatives of the forgoing (collectively, "Released Parties") from any and all injuries, liability, losses and damages of any kind to persons, including death, or property resulting, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from entrant's participation in the competition or any competition-related activity, the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any awarded prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) or Released Parties' use of any of the rights granted herein; and (c) to the use of his/her name, city, state, and country of residence, essay and/or likeness for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes in any and all media, now or hereafter known, worldwide and on the internet, and in perpetuity by CNS and its designees, without compensation (unless prohibited by law) or additional consents from entrant or any third party and without prior notice, approval or inspection, and to execute specific consent to such use if asked to do so.

Released Parties are not responsible for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, inaccurate, illegible, undeliverable, delayed, or destroyed entries or e-mail; or for any computer, network, mechanical, typographical, printing, human or other error or difficulty relating to or in connection with this competition, including, without limitation, errors or difficulties which may occur in connection with the administration of the competition, the processing or judging of entries, the announcement of the prizes or in any competition-related materials. Released Parties are not responsible for entries that are transmitted late or incorrectly or are lost or misdirected for any reason including computer, telephone, paper transfer, human or other error; or for electronic, computer, or telephone malfunction or error, including inability to access any web site associated with the competition or to process any submission thereon. CNS reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel, modify or suspend any portion of the competition should causes beyond its control corrupt the administration or security of the competition.

Questions or comments

E-mail The Nonproliferation Review editor Stephen Schwartz at Stephen.Schwartz@miis.edu.

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