Celebrating The Cove's Achievements

You may have noticed the temporary banner for The Cove on The Forge's homepage a few weeks ago. The Cove has recently launched Version 4 of its site, introducing a range of new features, including achievement tracking, challenges, and goals, all designed to support Army personnel in their pursuit of Professional Military Education. The Forge and JPME extend their congratulations to The Cove team for their outstanding work on this significant upgrade.

Jamie Cullens Writing Competition Closed

The 2024 Jamie Cullens Writing Competition has officially closed for submissions. The Centre for Defence Leadership and Ethics is now in the process of reviewing a record number of entries. Winners will be announced on The Forge in due course, followed by the publication of the first, second, and third-place entries in each category.

New Forge Poster Released

With the arrival of Spring, The Forge is proud to unveil its latest poster, which celebrates our writers and features street art. This edition showcases the Defence tricolours and imagery representing all three services, styled in a nostalgic homage to the grunge aesthetic of the 1990s and early 2000s. All Forge posters are available for download through the Friends of The Forge.

Vimeo Access Now Available

The Forge has successfully secured an official Defence-approved Vimeo account, providing access to 1TB of video storage and advanced WCAG-compliant features, including closed captions, in-video transcripts, and secondary audio channels. All JPME videos have been migrated to the new platform with closed captions enabled. Additionally, we are collaborating with ADFA Coaching to host their 2023–2024 coaching video suite within our Learning Resources section. It’s important to remember that closed captions benefit not only those with hearing impairments but can also be utilised in noisy or shared environments without disturbing others.

Changes to the Submission Process

From 1 January 2025, The Forge will no longer accept unsolicited submissions via email. Authors wishing to submit content should use the ‘Contribute’ button located at the top of The Forge website. 

This change has been introduced to streamline the submission process. The online form ensures that all necessary Terms and Conditions are agreed upon, relevant JPME connections are identified, and the appropriate licence is selected. Processing email submissions requires significant additional resources and manual handling, and will no longer be supported. 

Please note, this only applies to unsolicited submissions. It does not affect pitches, requested submissions, or the return of edited articles.

Staffing Update at The Forge

I am pleased to announce my official appointment as Assistant Director of JPME and Editor-in-Chief of The Forge. After acting in this role for some time, I now formally take the helm and look forward to guiding The Forge through its next stage of growth and development.