2012 Contest Summary

The 2012 Richard A. Clarke
National Scholarly Monograph Contest


The submitted monographs from the 2012 contest addressed the following:

Beyond capturing and killing terrorists, some nations have seemingly evolved effective means of preventing violent extremism and countering radicalization:

  1. What are some of the better examples of such successful programs?
  2. How could such programs be more broadly utilized to combat terrorism against the United States?

Congratulations to our 2012 Richard A. Clarke National Scholarly Monograph Contest winners (click on a name for a link to a PDF of the essay):

Below you will find the contest information and winners of the First, Second, and Third Prize winning essays:

Announcement of Winners – September 10, 2012 – Center for First Amendment Studies at Cal State Long Beach Announces Winners of 2nd Annual Clarke Graduate Student Monograph Contest

Winning Essays

  1. “Killing Them With Kindness: A Softer Approach to Preventing Violent Extremism and Countering Radicalization in the War on Terrorism”
    Melissa Jane Kronfeld—First Place Winner (media-12/7/2016)
  2. “Local Solutions and Community-Oriented Policing”
    Jiayi Zhou—Second Prize Winner
  3. “Counterterrorism: Seeking Successful Policies at the International Frontier”
    Tamara Zaman—Third Prize Winner

The following is the text for the 2012 contest, for archival purposes:


The SECOND ANNUAL (2012) Richard A. Clarke National Security & Counter-Terrorism Scholarship Competition

Open to graduate students in good standing in M.A. and Ph.D. programs

Sponsored and Operated by:

A-Mark Financial, Inc., 911plus.org & Professor Craig Smith
(representing The Center for First Amendment Studies at California State University, Long Beach)

FIRST PLACE: $20,000

(second place: $10,000; third place: $5,000)

In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11, Professor Craig Smith and The Center for First Amendment Studies, in conjunction with the website 911plus.org, announce a National Monograph Contest (“The Contest”) for graduate students in good standing at American universities. The Contest is named for and the awards will be given in honor of the former counterterrorism czar, Richard A. Clarke, who is also the author of several books related to national security.

THE CONTEST

I. The Competition:

The Center for First Amendment Studies, in conjunction with A-Mark Financial and the web site 911plus.org, announces the second annual national monograph scholarship competition for graduate students in good standing at American universities.

The scholarships will be given in honor of former counter-terrorism czar, Richard A. Clarke, who authored several books related to national security, including Against All Enemies (2004) and Cyber War (2010).

II. Scholarships:

First place scholarship will be $20,000; second place, $10,000; and third place, $5,000 in prize money. (These scholarships may be subject to tax if not used for tuition, books, and other educational expenditures.)

The monographs of the three 2011 scholarship winners are posted on the Center’s site.

III. Scholarship Competition Rules and Information:

  1. The submitted monographs shall address the following:
    Beyond capturing and killing terrorists, some nations have seemingly evolved effective means of preventing violent extremism and countering radicalization.

    1. What are some of the better examples of such successful programs?
    2. How could such programs be more broadly utilized to combat terrorism against the United States?
  2. This competition is limited to graduate students in good standing in master’s and doctoral programs at accredited American universities in the United States or its territories (with the exception of graduate students in Communication Studies at CSULB.)
  3. Steps to enter the competition:
    • Obtain a signed letter from your department chair or dean certifying that you are a graduate student in good standing in the spring semester of 2011 at your university (graduate students may be in either Master’s or Doctoral programs). Send the letter with a note indicating that you intend to participate in The Competition. Mail your note and letter from your chair or dean by June 1, 2012 to:Dr. Craig Smith
      Center for First Amendment Studies
      AS 309
      California State University
      Long Beach, CA 90840-2007
    • Write your monograph in Times New Roman font, size 12, with one-inch margins and double spacing throughout, including block quotations and endnotes.
    • Do not use a running head; number pages in single Arabic numerals at the bottom center of each page.
    • Use the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition or later, as your guide regarding all matters of form and style. Monographs are not to exceed 45 double-spaced pages (8 ½ x 11”) including cover page, endnotes, graphs, charts, and all other material (scholarly monographs are normally 20 to 40 pages in length in draft form).
    • Number the cover page as page one of the monograph and include the title of the monograph (bold and underlined), your name, major and university, mailing address, e-mail address, and contact phone number. At the bottom of the cover page, include the following sentence: “I pledge that the following monograph is an original work and mine alone,” followed by the date and your signature. (Do not identify yourself any other place in the monograph since the cover page will be removed for the blinded review by the judges.)
  4. The submitted monographs must be postmarked no later than August 1, 2012 and be original scholarly works by a single author, in English only; the submitted monographs must not have been published elsewhere. The unauthorized, uncited use, or close imitation of the language of another author and the representation of it as the entrant’s own work shall result in disqualification. The competition sponsors shall not be held liable for an entrant’s violation of any third party including, but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent infringement, or defamation. Entrants must have full ownership rights of their submitted work. No author may submit more than one monograph.
  5. Each monograph will be blinded and then assessed by a panel of
    qualified judges using the following criteria (alphabetically):

    • Adherence to The Scholarship Competition Rules.
    • Depth of Analysis.
    • Grammar, punctuation and spelling.
    • Quality of arguments.
    • Quality of evidence and sources.
    • Scholarly merit, objectivity and accuracy.
    • Significance of policy suggestions for the future.
  6. The decision of the judges is final and not subject to appeal. of entrants; however, entrants are encouraged to use other sources to supplement their research.
  7. A searchable database of over 6,500 sourced quotations from over 110 published books, publications and other media has been provided at 911plus.org for use of entrants. However, it is expected that entrants will also use other sources for this competition.
  8. Entrants should feel free to discuss their project with their university advisors. We encourage using the submitted monographs as a basis for scholarly papers, theses or dissertations.
  9. The top three monographs will be published online by the Center for First Amendment Studies and 911plus.org. The scholarship recipients shall provide The Center for First Amendment Studies with a copyright release form only for the purpose of posting the selected monographs for the website of The Center and 911plus.org. The scholarship recipients shall retain all other copyrights to their monographs.
  10. Winners shall provide final revised versions of their monographs in PDF format or MS Word for posting on the website of The Center and 911plus.org.
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