UKCGG Essay Competition

UKCGG Essay Competition 2023

Calling all budding authors! 

Enter the UKCGG essay competition for a chance to win some prizes, present at the national UKCGG Winter meeting and potentially work with senior colleagues to convert your manuscript into a publishable article. 

The title for this year's entry is: "Increasing use of artificial intelligence in genomic medicine for cancer care – the promise and potential pitfalls."

We had essays on a similar theme in 2018, but given the huge advances in this space since then, we thought it worth revisiting! 

Deadline for entries: midnight Sunday 8^th October 2023.

Essays no more than 2500 words

Winners will be announced in four categories:

• Medical students 
• Junior doctors (any training grade from FY1 to ST8)
• Genetic counsellor trainees
• Clinical scientist trainees 

The winner will also be invited to present their winning essay at the UKCGG Winter Meeting on 8^th December 2023.

Winning essays will be published in full on the UKCGG website. 

Please spread the word to your trainees and students!

Please send completed entries to terri.mcveigh@nhs.net making sure to include "UKCGG Essay Competition" and the appropriate category in the subject header. 

UKCGG Essay Competition 2022: What will enable personalised cancer risk assessments ten years from now?

The topic for the 2022 Essay Prize was: What will enable personalised cancer risk assessments ten years from now?

As usual we had some fantastic submissions. 

Huge congratulations to our overall winner, Dr Eunice Xing, and to our winners in all categories. We were disappointed that we had no submissions from Trainee Genetic Counsellors, so expect lots of submissions from this group in 2023!!

We also awarded commendations to: Amber Corrigan, Joseph Christopher, Samira Ahmad Bawany

Download and read the winning essays by clicking here.

2021: "Delivering cancer genetics services in the post-pandemic era – are we ready for a virtual model of care?"

The topic for the 2021 Essay Prize was: "Delivering cancer genetics services in the post-pandemic era – are we ready for a virtual model of care?"

The submissions for this year's competition were fantastic, and gave us lots of food for thought in how we can continue to deliver services in the midst of yet another wave - we're not quite "post" pandemic yet. 

The overall winner, and first prize in the junior doctor category was Melody Redman, who also presented an overview of her essay at the recent UKCGG winter meeting. 

Other winners included 

• Medical student - Jen Lim 
• Genetic counsellor trainees - Vernie Aguda 
• Junior Doctor (commendation) - Rhys Dore 

Read all of their wonderful submissions here. 

2020: "Horizon scanning in cancer genomics"

We had some phenomenal entries in our 2020 UKCGG essay competition, on the topic of "Horizon Scanning in Cancer Genomics". Participants were tasked with writing an essay based on the following scenario: 

Imagine two patients - one being diagnosed with cancer now and one being diagnosed with the same cancer in 10 years time. How and why do you think advances in genomic medicine will change the care we offer now and then for cancer patients and their families?

Some stellar entries were received. Massive congratulations to all participants, and to our winners! 

Overall winner, and first prize Medical Student category - Lydia Seed 

Lydia gave a fantastic presentation summarising her essay at the UKCGG Winter meeting, and was so impressive that she was also invited to speak as part of the ICR-led module "Molecular Pathology of Cancer and Application in Cancer Diagnosis, Screening and Treatment" on the MSc Genomic Medicine, Imperial College London. 

Winners in the other categories included:

Doctor category: Melody Redman 

Genetic counsellor category: Xavier Bracke-Manzanares

Scientist category: Robert Pigott

Runners up included:

Doctor category: Emily Ferguson 

Medical student category: Tom Hampshire 

Genetic Counsellor category: Courtney Elliot

Scientist category: Seemu Ali

Read the winning essays! All available here.

2019: "Should All Individuals be screened for Genetic Predisposition to Cancer"

The topic for the essay competition in 2019 was ""Should All Individuals be screened for Genetic Predisposition to Cancer". Again, we had some fantastic submissions. 

Congratulations to all participants and to our winners! 

Overall Winner and First Prize Junior Doctor Category  - Sarah Wedderburn

Sarah said "I am currently an ST5 in Clinical Genetics based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow. I have always wanted to work in clinical genetics but it was my time as a core medical trainee on the oncology unit which focused my interest towards cancer genetics. The role of the clinical geneticist evolves with the specialty.  Questions such as that asked by the essay will become ever more frequent and answering them will be part of our role. This essay has made me consider many of the current and future challenges facing clinical genetics and genomics." 

Second Prize Junior Doctor Category - Lucy Loong

Special Commendations Junior Doctor Category  -  Tom Webb and Christopher Harlow

First Prize Medical Student Category - Francesco Dernie

Second Prize Medical Student Category  - Wassem Hasan

You can read the winning entries here.

2018: "Will Artificial Intelligence Eventually Replace Cancer Geneticists"

We had some excellent entries in the CGG Essay Prize in 2018, on the topic "Will Artificial Intelligence Eventually Replace Cancer Geneticists"

Huge congratulations to all our winners:

 You can read their winning entries here.