The winners of the 2021 CNO Naval History Essay Contest were honored during a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy on 23 September.
Now in its fifth year, the contest is run jointly by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC). This year’s awards luncheon was held during the Naval Academy’s biennial McMullen Naval History Symposium.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday was on hand with Vice Admiral Peter H. Daly, U.S. Navy (Retired), chief executive officer of the Naval Institute; and Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox, U.S. Navy (Retired), director of the NHHC, to recognize this year’s winners.
First Place in the Professional Historian category went to Corbin Williamson, assistant professor of strategy at the Air War College, for his essay on the 1947 Japan Exercises, which appears in this issue of Naval History. (See “Seizing the Initiative in Training,” pp. 34–39.) Second Place in the Professional category was won by independent scholar Andrew Blackley for his work “Toward a New Navalism for the 21st Century.”
The winners in the Rising Historian category are all active-duty U.S. Navy officers. They are: First Place—Lieutenant Commander Jeff Vandenengel, for “Where to Point the Periscope.” Second Place—Lieutenant (junior grade) Joseph Sims, for “Lessons from the 600-Ship Navy.” Third Place—Lieutenant Jack Tribolet, for “The Reckoning of Reform: Realigning the U.S. Navy for Near-Peer Conflict in the 21st Century.”
The winning authors received cash
prizes and an artifact from the USS Constitution. First Place winners have their essays published in Naval History and the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. All winners will have their essays published on the NHHC website.
