Student Essay Prize
2023 Student Essay Prize: What is the most important emerging challenge for global health over the next 5 years and how could this be overcome?
The essay topic for this year is "What is the most important emerging challenge for global health over the next 5 years and how could this be overcome?"
This Student Essay Competition is for students studying global health as a degree, or any degree with a component of global health or medicine. It is open to current, full-time, students, based anywhere in the world. Evidence of student status must be provided at the point of submission.
The essay topic for this year is “What is the most important emerging challenge for global health over the next 5 years and how could this be overcome?”
The essay should clearly set out your personal perspective and specific view, with evidence to back up your choice. The essay must demonstrate a combination of scholarship, original thought, and analysis.
Guidelines
The essay should be between 1,500 and 2,000 words, excluding references, footnotes, and tables. A 150–200-word summary should also be submitted together with the essay. All sources must be appropriately acknowledged using references numbered in the order in which they appear in the text with brackets e.g. (2) for reference 2. References do not count as part of the word count.
The essay must be in English. Please try and organise the essay into a logical succession of headed sections, where possible.
The essay should be entirely your own original work and should not have been previously published. All essays will be checked for plagiarism, and we encourage you to refer to an academic writing handbook such as this one produced by LSHTM for guidance. Please note that if the summary is omitted, the essay will not be considered. Only one essay per person can be submitted.
Assessment
The winner(s) will be selected by a panel of experts, and the decision ratified by the RSTMH Education and Training Committee. Highly commended essays may also be selected. The decision of the Committee is final.
The panel will be assessing essays using the following criteria:
- How well your personal perspective links to the local/national/international landscape
- How well structured the essay is
- How easy the essay is to understand
- The evidence basis for your essay, including how you make use of relevant references
- How much does the essay inspire or engage the reader
Announcement and prize
We may publish on our website or in our newsletter anonymised data relating to submissions to the competition. We will announce the winner’s name and essay title, plus that of any highly commended submissions on our website and through other communication channels. We may publish submitted essays on the RSTMH website and through our other communications channels. We may publish the winning essay in our scientific journal and on our website. By submitting an essay, you agree to these conditions. The prize for the winning essay is £200, plus a year's free student membership to RSTMH, either new or a renewal. We will also invite the winner to be presented with a certificate and their prize fund at an RSTMH event in 2024.
The essay should be submitted by 5pm GMT Thursday 23 November 2023
History of Student Essay Prize
We launched the Student Essay Prize in late 2018 after discussions with our Training and Education Committee to encourage students of varying disciplines to engage with the fields of tropical medicine and global health.