Members of the Chanticleer Intelligence Brief (CIB) met for the culmination of the semester on April 25, to recognize the hard work of officers, analysts and members, and to renew their pledge to make the organization even stronger in the coming year. This was the fifth CIB Banquet, in the tradition of the group’s first-ever banquet, which was held in May of 2016. As always, the event featured free food provided to all CIB members, which was enjoyed in a relaxed atmosphere.

At the opening of the awards ceremony, CIB faculty mentor Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis recognized the departing CIB Executive Team members, Eric Winter (Head of the Special Topics Desk), Katelyn Montrief (Head of the Middle East and Americas Desks), and Connor Kilgore (Head of the Asia Desk and recipient of the fall 2017 CIB Achievement Award). Later on, CIB Executive Director Connor Kilgore and Dr. Fitsanakis, recognized the hard work of our Finance Officer, Madison Nowlin, who was awarded thee CIB Achievement Award. This recognition is offered by the CIB Executive Team to an individual member of the organization who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in contributing to the CIB’s efforts. There were seven candidates for the award this year, the second-highest number ever.

The CIB Executive Team also recognized the crucial contribution of CIB members to our newest CIB project, The Weekly Intelligence Brief. Lindsey Hamilton was editors of the publication, which  contains timely analytical briefs submitted by CIB members and analysts, based on their areas of focus. The editor and Executive Team recognized CIB Middle East Section Chief Nathan Lake with the Rising Analyst Award. This award is offered by the Weekly Intelligence Brief editor to the CIB member or who has submitted the most and highest quality contributions to the publication.

Four awards were presented to CIB Analysts during the ceremony. The Intelligence Analysis Award, presented for delivering the highest-quality oral analytical product during the semester, was won by the CIB’s Americas Section, whose members are Lauren Loverin (Section Head), Joseph Cain and Rachel Panichella. The Intelligence Forecast Award, given for achieving the most successful analytical forecast record in the semester, was presented to the CIB’s Asia and Africa Section, whose members are Fabio (Section Head), Kyle Brossard, Blake Gutberlet and Cody Bronushas.

The Intelligence Progress Award is given to an individual analyst whose work has shown the most progress during a single semester. This award recognizes a person who rose to meet the high standards of the CIB though constant improvement, dedication and hard work. This award was presented to CIB Analyst Jared Ross, who is a member of the the organization’s Middle East Section. Jared’s topic for the semester was: “Will the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah continue in 2018”.

The Best Intelligence Essay Award recognizes the best written analytical product of the semester. It went to CIB Analyst Blake Gutberlet, a veteran of the CIB who has served as the organization’s Executive Director. Blake’s analytical question for the semester was: “What is the current state of al-Shabaab?”. His final analytical product was deemed to be the best quality by a review committee composed of intelligence professionals.

In addition to Analysts, the CIB recognized its most promising members based on the consistency of their work this semester. The head of each membership desk nominated a member for the Regional Expert Award, which is given for distinguished semester-long performance as a CIB member. The award winners were: Maddy Scholar (Americas); Ian Russick (Europe); Alex Clark and Audrey Oien (Russia); Blake Gutberlet (Africa); Jeremy Pekoff (Asia); and Augustine Batten (Cyber).

The final recognition of the evening went to the CIB Europe Desk, headed by CIB Projects Officer Michael Gompper. The desk won this semester’s CIB Weekly News Trivia Quiz with a record-setting 65 points, 15 points ahead of the Middle East Desk, which came in second place. The Americas Desk came in third with 48 points.

The CIB wishes to thank all of its Executive Team Officers, its Analysts and its Members, for a highly successful semester, and looks forward to continuing to strengthen our organization in the future to come. We also want to congratulate our graduating members and wish them our very best as they embark on their next steps in life.