Three military men are vying for the National Fatherhood Award, sponsored by the National Fatherhood Initiative.  The award, which includes undisclosed prize packages, will be presented near Father’s Day.  Until May 25th, you can vote for your pick at the Initiative’s Facebook page, where you can watch videos produced by the three finalists.  The contenders include two officers and a young enlisted troop; all three have impressive stories:

• Navy Chaplain (Lt) Dennis Kelly, who works to support other military dads while striving to improve himself as father to his five children, according to his wife Brandy, who nominated him.
• Senior Airman Jonathan Jackson may be a relatively young 26, but he has fostered six children and adopted two.  Capt. Curtis Raaberg nominated him, noting Jackson and his wife also volunteer to babysit for single parents in their community, both to give them a break and let them perform extended military duties.
• Army 1st Lt. William Edwards stays connected to his four children in creative ways, writing poetry about each child and making homemade movies, according to his wife, Esther, who nominated him.  While deployed, he helped other soldiers create home movies for their children and produced a Christmas DVD for each family of the deployed band soldiers.