Awards, grants and prizes

The Heather Trickey Essay Prize

The prize sought to build on the work of Dr Trickey, who died in July 2021 and who was involved in designing the award, by encouraging work that aimed to find common ground and practical responses in sometimes difficult areas of women’s reproductive health and rights.

We chose Natalie’s essay, which explored the problems of public health advice around alcohol for women trying to conceive and proposed a potential solution for risk-reduction, as we felt it absolutely articulated these key themes. Women seeking to conceive are a group who are increasingly expected to behave as if pregnant, and yet the burden – particularly for those who may take longer than anticipated to become pregnant – is rarely recognised. We felt this was an area in need of further investigation, particularly as the idea of pre-conception care becomes more embedded, and will seek to support Natalie to take her ideas forward.

Alongside Natalie’s essay, we are also publishing six highly commended submissions which spoke to the criteria of a contested or underexplored area, sought to surface and explain women’s voices and experiences, and suggested fresh approaches. Areas covered included contraception, miscarriage, endometriosis and infant feeding – we know Heather would have been thrilled at the spread of reproductive issues represented, and the authors’ demonstrable commitment to improving experiences and outcomes for women.

We are hugely grateful to everyone who took part and look forward to opening the award again later this year.

Clare Murphy, Julia Sanders, Simon Brindle and Jessica Figueras

The winner of the inaugural Heather Trickey Essay Prize

Natalie Davies, Integrating alcohol harm reduction with family planning: a woman-centred alternative to the ‘abstinence-only’ approach for women trying to conceive

Highly commended

Laura Ruane, Claudia and Me: an endo story

Jessica Cohen-Murray, Why the UK needs a new National Milk

Dr Andrea Ford, Endometriosis, period health, and valuing women’s experience

Bakita Kasadha, Dr Shema Tariq, Dr Farai Nyatsanza, Dr Nell Freeman-Romilly, Angelina Namiba and Tanvi Rai PhD, Who knows ‘best’ when it comes to breast?

Richard Ma, Why current sexual and reproductive health research, policy and practice are failing women – and what we can do about it

Aimee Middlemiss and Susie Kilshaw, Sharing the burden of miscarriage knowledge

Find out more about the prize at: www.heathertrickeyprize.org

Peter Huntingford Memorial Prize

BPAS has endowed the Peter Huntingford Memorial Prize to mark the late Professor Peter Huntingford’s contribution to obstetrics and gynaecology. This has enabled the RCOG to provide two prizes of £150 (first prize) and £75 (second prize).

Eligibility and requirements

This award is for FY1 or FY2 doctors across the UK and Republic of Ireland and will be awarded to the two best presentations of a case history, focused on either:

• Women with complications of pregnancy and giving birth
• A clinical audit of report of a research project

In any aspect of sexual health and fertility control in which they have been directly involved.

A submission of no more than 1,500 words outlining the research with reference to publications (if any) is required. Applications that are over the word limit will be marked down. Please include a statement of your contribution to the project and indicate the name and address of your supervisor.

Your application will be judged on the following criteria:

• General clinical relevance
• Presentation style
• Insight into medical, social and psychological features/implications of the case
• Knowledge of literature
• Contains no factual errors
• Level of involvement

Applications

Please ensure you read the guidance on submitting your application before entering any of the awards. To apply, please send your application to the Awards Administrator (awards@rcog.org.uk) by midnight on Thursday 13 May 2021.