MOD Literary Competition launched with this year's theme 'THE DEFENCE OF OUR COUNTRY IS A DUTY AND A MATTER OF HONOUR'

Reflecting on the theme of the creative writing competition, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “What the Slovak Constitution says is that the defence of the Slovak Republic is a duty and a matter of honour for citizens. We have long lived in the belief that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states is guaranteed by international law. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine and the heroism of its defenders have shown us the cruel and very sad reality of this world where citizens of an independent nation must fight for their own freedom with weapons in their hands, even in the 21st century. Defending our country is a matter of morality, persuasion and pride. I am convinced that patriotism along with the willingness to defend our country is still part and parcel of the DNA of our future – our students and youth.”

The submissions must be in between 1,000 and 5,000 letters in length (including spaces), the texts must be typed and submitted as DOC, DOCX, ODT or PDF documents. Entries should be forwarded to sutaz@mod.gov.sk. For all information on the rules of the competition, please visit www.mosr.sk/sutaz-2023/.

The MOD panel of judges, comprised of the Defence Magazine editorial staff, service personnel and MOD civil servants, will evaluate the entries in each category. The first three winners of each category will receive cash prizes, with first prize winning €500, second prize €400, and third prize €300. The best entries will be published on an MOD social networking site for an online vote. The public will decide the READERS' PRIZE through “likes”. All the winners' entries will be published in Defence Magazine, the official publication from the Ministry of Defence.