Submitted by Art Silva

To our readers:

In 2011 we received 20 fantastic, thought-provoking Thought Challenge articles submitted by our peers and awarded Pedro Ramos $5,000 for his first-place contribution, "Are things really that bad?" while Sharon Dindal and Paul McGinley won $2,500 and $1,000 respectively for second and third place. This year, the program continues and we are looking to hear what you are passionate about and trying to stimulate thought and debate among the Daily readers.

There are so many of you out there with great new ideas and while it might seem intimidating to put yourself in the spotlight, there are many great benefits to doing so. You have an opportunity to show great leadership, influence the industry, get exposure by your peer group, and win a big prize.

No idea is too small or too big and you can be at any level in your organization from someone just joining this industry to a senior executive. The program is also not a writing contest – it is about finding the best thought-provoking ideas out there – so don’t let that idea get away without being told simply because you didn’t consider yourself to be a great writer.

You need to ask yourself, will you be the one to share your thoughts that will change our industry? Will you be the one to take home the top prize of $5,000 or an all-expense paid trip to the NRF or RILA conference in 2012 and a class at Northern Michigan University?

Submit your Thought Challenge and you can be the one to make history.

Best of luck!
Art Silva