An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 17 in the new National Army. He went on to have a long and extinguished career in the Defence Forces, and was a key military figure during the Emergency, before retiring as a lieutenant general in 1946. An Cosantóir was first published in December 1940 as a newsletter for the troops of then Col MJ Costello's Southern Command with the purpose of disseminating official views and providing instruction to personnel. After the Emergency, An Cosantóir was adopted as the single official publication for the Defence Forces, developing over the decades from a weekly to a monthly A5 pamphlet, and then on to today's 40-page, full-colour, A4 magazine, which has 10 issues per year and a readership estimated at 25,000. The new awards were kindly sponsored and made possible by the continued support of Mr Joseph Nazari, MD of our current design and publication company, JM Publishing & Media, who have been working with us since May 2011. The 2018 recipients were Paul O'Brien for Best Article, and Joe Price for Best Contributor. Paul O'Brien is an accomplished author and historian, with over 15 books published on Irish military history. He has been a regular con- tributor to An Cosantóir since July 2011, when the first of his 56 articles was published, which looked at the significance of the places visited by Queen Elizabeth II during her trip to Ireland, such as the Garden of Remembrance and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens. Since then Paul has covered many subjects for An Cosantóir; from historical topics, such as the 1916 Rising, World Wars I & II, the Vietnam and Falklands wars, to name a few, to current hotspots like Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, Ukraine, Yemen, Mozambique and Kenya. His article Mali – At the Gates of Hell, published in April 2013, won the coveted European Military Press Association (EMPA) Best Article Award that year. His five articles published in An Cosantóir in 2018 included: Shadow of the Sun: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Taken: Human Trafficking, The League of Nations, Bloodbath in Yemen and Mayhem & Murder in Mozambique. Of those it was his League of Nations article that won the award for Best Article. However, we think it is fair to say all his articles are of a very high standard and An Cosantóir has become a better prod- uct with his continued contributions over the last nine years. Joe Price is a 'living to learn' survival enthusiast, a member of the Irish Bushcraft Club and an Irish ambassador for Mora Knives. In 2018 Joe wrote eight survival tactical aides (Tac-Aides) for An Cosantóir, aimed at assisting soldiers, scouts and mountain adventure enthu- siasts. The series, which ran from February to November, comprised: The 5 C's of Survival; Duct Tape and its Emergency Usage; Adjustable Pot Hanger; Spanish Windlass; Core Temperature Management; The Plough Point; Israeli Sutures; and Windlass Tripod. What was exceptional about these short but knowledgeable pieces was that Joe physically took to the hills to carry out each of the skills and document them with photographs. For An Cosantóir's War of Independence special edition Joe provided a great article, Sphagnum Moss for Survival, which looked at the short- age of cotton for field dressings during the Great War and its replace- ment with sphagnum moss harvested mainly in Ireland and Canada. Hopefully Joe is working on more of these highly sought after Tac- Aides, and will continue to share them with our readership. ACOS Brig Gen Peter O'Halloran and Brian Costello, a grandson of MJ Costello, presented the awards. Also attending the ceremony were other contributors to the War of Independence special, including Liz Gillis, Las Fallon, Mícheál Ó Doibhilín and John McGuiggan. After some light re- freshments the guests were invited on a tour of McKee Bks by Cpl Ronnie Daly (retired) who co-authored A Concise History of McKee Barracks with Paul O'Brien. Ronnie is an admirable local historian and a great guide and his guests found the tour very pleasurable and highly interesting. Given Lt Gen MJ Costello's belief in the importance of sharing infor- mation, the day ended fittingly with news of our award winners and the new website being shared across a wide spectrum of platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. It is good to be able to show our appreciation to some of our contributors and to provide other potential contributors with a little extra motivation. These awards are set to continue growing in stature with the introduction of two additional categories for 2019, 'Best Female Author' and 'Best History Article', both spon- sored by Kilmainham Tales Teo. The chances are that someone now reading this article will go on to receive one of the 2019 Lt Gen MJ Costello awards, so get writing! ACOS Brig Gen Peter O'Halloran presenting Best Contributor award to Joe Price along with Brian Costello. Website collaboration: Sgt Mick Burke, from PTools Cindy O'Keeffe, Des Murphy, Tom Skinner, ACOS Brig Gen Peter O'Halloran, Lt Col CJ Cullen, Lt Col Whittaker and Lt Col Oliver Dwyer. Best Article winner: Paul O'Brien with his wife Marianne and daughter Bláthnaid, with An Cosantóir Editor Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald. Both award winners Joe and Paul with Brian Costello and OC PR Branch Lt Col Whittaker. The new Military.ie

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