We have a winner . . .

A winner has been announced in the Doreen and Jim McElvaney Nonproliferation Essay Challenge - the annual award given by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The $10,000 prize has gone to a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Anne Harrington de Santana, for an essay entitled "The Currency of Power." Although the final version of the winning essay will not be published until November, I was fortunate enough to be able to see an advance copy of the essay.

It is a brilliant work: creative, powerfully persuasive and important. It answers the question: how is it possible for nuclear weapons to be so highly valued but appear to have so few practical uses? Harrington's argument is original, convincing and certain to become one of the milestones in the field.

If you do not have a subscription to Nonproliferation Review, I suggest you sign up for one before November. You do not want to miss this important work.