LeMay Center Inspiring Doctrinal Innovation Essay Prize Challenge (PC)

TO PARTICIPATE

• Open to all AIR FORCE PERSONNEL
• Essays may be Air University academic work, but if completed during official work time, the author must make changes to the academic work during non-duty hours to qualify to win the cash prize

Essays must be submitted through the submission form at www.mgmwerx.org/events/idiessaycontest

BEFORE APRIL 28TH, MIDNIGHT

TO SUBMIT

• Word Documents Only
• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. The LeMay Center wishes to encourage Airmen and Guardians to write. However, please inform us upon submission if your work is being considered for publication elsewhere. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please inform us immediately as you may be ineligible for dual publication and the top prize.
• We will accept only first-publication articles (previously published articles will not be accepted). Work submitted for academic requirements that is not officially published elsewhere IS acceptable.
• In addition to your Word attachment please include a brief biographical statement (e.g. “Maj Jones is a an air mobility pilot and currently a student at ACSC.”). Please also provide links to your Twitter handle and your LinkedIn profile, if applicable.
• You may also need to include any relevant institutional caveats.
• Authors requiring official review before an article can be published should secure permissions prior to submission.
• If you create any custom images, figures, or tables for your article, please attach separately the highest possible quality of image for our use. Give credit for any images you do not create.

THE GUIDELINES

• Essays must reference at least one USAF Operational Doctrine Publication and discuss how this doctrine needs to change due to the changing character of war (U.S. Air Force Doctrine > Home (doctrine.af.mil)
• Essays must be greater than 1500 words and less than 3000 words not including footnotes, headers, title, or author’s bio.
• Please use AP Style for the content of your piece; that is, for matters including abbreviations, capitalization, forms of address etc.
• Your article should use the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting and citations. Begin each new paragraph without indenting the first sentence. Use footnotes only—do not use endnotes. Do not include bibliographies or works cited listings. 
• Use one space only between a punctuation mark that ends a sentence and the first word of the next sentence. All punctuation goes within quotation marks in accordance with AP Style.
• Default to standard American English for spelling and punctuation.
• Avoid hyperlink citations.
• Your essay should be clearly focused and establish that focus almost immediately, in part by providing a thesis in the first paragraph. 
• Your essay should be well structured over the entire piece, where ideas are developed through the logical, orderly progression of paragraphs.
• Your essay should also be well organized at the paragraph level, with each paragraph centered on a single, main idea and, your article should provide evidence that logically and clearly supports the content and thesis of your article. 
• A note on evidence: authors may refer to themselves in the first person (e.g., “I could not put down the book”), but personal and professional experience are no substitute for external evidence.
• Finally, prose is important. Clarity, concision, and directness at the sentence level ensure even the most complicated ideas are presented in an accessible way.  Avoid jargon. 
• Your audience does not necessarily share your outlook, background, and store of knowledge; write with that in mind.