The winners of LANDSOUTHEAST 45th Anniversary Composition Contest received their awards in a ceremony conducted at the headquarters garrison on 8 September 1997. The Composition Contest was open to all Turkish graduate and under graduate students studying in the universities in Turkey and who turned in a 5000 word essay on the topic "The importance of NATO for Turkey and Turkey for NATO within Europe's Changing Security Structure." The authors of the best three compositions were awarded a four day trip to Brussels, Belgium which includes a tour of the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The fourth place winner and the two students who shared the fifth place deserved honorable mention.

The names of the composition contest winners are given below.