The deadlines for the "Your Ideas, Your NATO" policy workshop competition are drawing near, but there`s still plenty of time to enter! Participants should write a 600-800 word article in one of three categories: by February 23 in the Values and Community category, by March 15 in the Partnerships after the Arab Spring category, and by April 5 in the Smart Defense category.

Through the generous support of NATO, the US Mission to Germany and the Boell Foundation, three winners will win a trip to Berlin to present their ideas at our conference on May 21 and receive feedback from NATO.

We are looking for realistic policy proposals on how to increase awareness of NATO`s values, reach out to new democracies in the Arab world, and encourage states to share defense burdens more effectively. Those with the best proposals in each category will then join together to develop a single policy memo, mirroring the unanimous decisions necessary in NATO policy making.

For more information please see the main competition page:

http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/articles/view/Your_Ideas,_Your_NATO

If you need some help getting started, check out our reading recommendations:

http://www.atlantic-community.org/index/articles/view/Your_Ideas,_Your_NATO:_A_Closer_Look_at_the_Issues