The Dr. Karl A. Lamers Peace-Foundation, founded in December 2018, seeks to encourage young people to think about the great importance of peace and freedom. The future of peace and freedom requires strong dedication and engagement from the younger generation. Both values have decisively shaped the life and work of Dr. Karl A. Lamers as a long-time politician. From 1994 to 2021, he has been a member of the German Parliament. Furthermore, from 1998 – 2022, he has been an active member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served as its President from 2010 to 2012. He has also served as President of the Atlantic Treaty Association for six years (2008 2014) and as its Vice-President from 2017–2020. For 13 years (2009−2022), he has been a Vice-President of the German Atlantic Association. He is an Honorary Member of the German Atlantic Association and currently Regional Director of Heidelberg/Mannheim. In October 2021, Prof. h. c. Dr. Karl A. Lamers has been appointed as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Estonia.

The Dr. Karl A. Lamers Peace-Foundation invites students to submit their essays for the prize awarded in cooperation with the German Atlantic Association and the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association.

The topic of the 2024 competition is as follows:

75 years of NATO
is the strongest alliance in history fit enough to defend all European member states against any security threats and deter all potential aggressors?

In 2022 war returned to the European continent without any prospect to end soon. For many years there have always been discussions about defence spending in Europe and how much military capacity the European member states of NATO must contribute to make the Alliance as a whole even more effective. European countries of the Alliance have increased their defence spending in recent years, while at the same time the risk of further conflicts on the brick of NATO territory has increased dramatically.

Eligibility:

We encourage students to submit essays on the topic. Participants must be aged between 20 – 30 and citizens of one of the NATO member states. Please note that only students with a valid student ID are eligible to enter this competition.

How to submit:

Please submit your essay (max. 3.000 words) as Word document (Calibri, 12 pt font size) and as PDF document by email to peace@lamers-stiftung.de no later than 31 July 2024. Essays must be in English. Only one essay per participant. We ask students to list footnotes and a list of bibliographical references at the end of the essay. Only one essay per participant. Please provide your full name, contact details (email, mobile number) and a copy of your Student ID.

Selection:

A Selection Panel under the lead of the President of the German Atlantic Association, Christian Schmidt, together with Prof. h. c. Dr. Karl A. Lamers will select the three winning essays.

Winner essays:

The three winner essays will be awarded with the Dr. Karl A. Lamers Peace-Prize (1.000€ for first prize, 600€ for second prize and 400€ for third prize) by Prof. h. c. Dr. Lamers and the President of the German Atlantic Association, Christian Schmidt, at the NATO Talk Conference in November 2024 in Berlin.

We process personal data, you have provided to us, for the purpose of participating in the essay competition and refer in this regard to Article 6 (1b) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We would be pleased to send you upon request our information letter which refers to Article 13, 14 GDPR.