Young Doctors Essay Competition
The 'Young Doctors' Essay Competition provides a platform for high schoolers to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into excellent doctors: honest, caring, knowledgeable, competent, and equipped to maintain good medical practice for diverse populations.
There are currently no official opportunities for high schoolers to explore their interest in medicine in Western Australia. Medicine is a rigorous lifelong career, wherein you will see complex, socially-contextualised cases. Entering an essay into our competition will build knowledge and refine critical thinking skills. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All essays are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities and healthcare institutions, including the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science and the University of Western Australia School of Medicine.
Judges will select an overall 'best essay' across the three categories: Mental health, global health, and medical ethics.
This year's essay prompts are as follows:
1 Letting the pendulum swing so far away from paternalism has been one of the worst things we have done in medicine.
Explain the reasoning behind this statement. Argue to the contrary. To what extent do you agree that paternalistic practices remain/are justified in contemporary healthcare?
2 The seamless interplay between body and mind is overlooked in contemporary healthcare, which tends to treat physical and mental health as separate entities - this is unacceptable.
Explain the reasoning behind this statement. Argue to the contrary, that a compartmentalised approach (to healthcare) should be maintained. To what extent do you agree with the statement?
3 It is time to classify biological aging as a disease.
Explain the reasoning behind this statement. Argue to the contrary. To what extent do you agree with the statement?
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
All students in Western Australia are eligible for the Young Doctors Essay Competition 2024-2025.
Registration
Applicants are automatically registered with submission.
Submission
All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm AWST on the submission deadline: Friday, 31 Dec 2024. Candidates must be in Year 11 or 12 by 2025.
No charge is required for entry.
Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration).
Students should submit their essay file to their coordinating teacher. Teachers should label the file in this format: Entrant_Year in 2025_School.#.
E.g. Entrant_Year 12_IonaPresentationCollege.001
Submissions will be accepted as soon as registration opens in November. To avoid last-minute issues, we recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline.
All essays regarding the competition should be submitted to youngdoctorsessaycompetition@gmail.com.
Assessment
Essays will be evaluated on knowledge and grasp of the subject matter, competent use of evidence, quality of reasoning, creativity, structure, writing style, and persuasion. The best essays are those able to change someone's mind. Essays that fail to answer or overlook counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful.
Results
The writers of the 10 best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for the prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm AWST on 20 Jan.
All shortlisted applicants will receive invaluable insights and guidance through personalised feedback from the judging panel on their essays.
The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Key Dates
- Registration opens: 1 Nov, 2024.
- Submission deadline: 31 Dec, 2024.
- Notification of short-listed essayists: 20 Jan, 2025.
- Awards announcement: 31 Jan, 2025.
Contact
Any queries regarding the competition should be sent to youngdoctorsessaycompetition@gmail.com.
Kindly sponsored by:
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Rotary Club of Fremantle for their invaluable support of the Young Doctors Essay Competition. With a rich history of both local and global community service, Rotary Fremantle exemplifies Service Above Self, empowering the next generation of medical professionals in Western Australia. Their generous contribution empowers the Young Doctors Essay Competition to nurture students’ intellectual growth and to realise their potential to shape the future of medicine.
For decades, Rotary Fremantle has been a pillar of positive change, from local initiatives like the Give a Damn, Give a Can food drive, which provides essential resources to underprivileged communities, to global efforts like ShelterBox, which offering critical disaster relief worldwide.
We are very thankful for the Rotary Club of Fremantle's invaluable support in bringing the Young Doctors Essay Competition to life.