2026 Cove Challenge - Cutting The Red Tape
Using words, imagery, or video, tell us:
"Cutting the Red Tape: What’s the one thing in need of change to move Army from an efficiency to effectiveness model?"
Our annual short-response event, The Cove Challenge, is back! Each year, we pose a question that is designed to encourage reflection and deliberation and invite simple, but thoughtful responses. It only takes a few minutes to enter, so consider the question above and share your answer via our Cove Challenge Submission Portal below.
Cutting the Red Tape: What’s the one thing in need of change to move Army from an efficiency to effectiveness model?
This year’s Cove Challenge asks a simple question with potentially significant impact: What’s the one thing in need of change to move Army from an efficiency to effectiveness model?
Daily across Army, soldiers, NCOs, commanders, and APS staff encounter processes, reporting requirements, meetings, duplicative administration, or routine tasks that consume time and cognitive effort without contributing meaningfully to readiness, lethality, or mission success. Supporting the aims of Army’s Project RUTHLESS initiative — Reducing Unnecessary Tasks to Help Lethality, Efficiency and Strategic Success — this year's Cove Challenge encourages participants to identify the small frustrations, inefficiencies, or pieces of red tape that slow us down and distract from what matters most.
Whether serious, practical, or creative, your response should highlight one task, process, or burden that you believe Army could simplify, streamline, or remove entirely to help sharpen our edge and improve the way we work.
Submission Types
Submissions can be made in 3 different categories:
Written: Just like in previous years, you can provide a short, written response of around 50-100 words that encapsulates your idea in narrative or first-person form.
Graphic: A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can submit a single image (photograph, digital art, painting, AI-prompt generated, hand-drawn/comic, etc.) that represents your response. It should stand on its own without accompanying text; and be accompanied by a simple title.
Video: You can submit a piece of video content. Submit a live-action recording, animated video or similar showing a vignette demonstrating your response to the question. The video can have sound or no sound and is to be a maximum 30 seconds. Entries in this category should demonstrate the point through the recording itself, not simply be a recording of you talking/verbally responding to the question.
All entries must be your own, original work.
Submissions are to be made via our dedicated Cove Challenge 2026 Submission Portal.
Requirements
All submissions should meet the requirements below:
Respond to the topic question: "What’s the one thing in need of change to move Army from an efficiency to effectiveness model?".
Written submissions: between 50 and 100 words in length.
Artwork: One image (it can be digital art, a painting, a photo, or a photo of a sculpture - be creative!) with a Title
Video: up to 30 seconds in length and 250 MB in file size.
The submission must be your original work, and you must attribute your name to the submission. If you make use of artificial intelligence (AI) in producing the artwork, the way in which you use AI needs to be acknowledged.
Submit your work to our dedicated Cove Challenge 2026 Submission Portal, with the subject line '2026 Cove Challenge' and the title of your work.
Include your rank, name, and unit
Submissions close at 1700h AEST on Friday, 05 June.
Prizes
The Top 10 entries in the Challenge, as selected by The Cove and invited judges, will receive Cove merchandise prizes.
