Medical student essay competition

From September to November 2025, we are hosting an essay competition open to all medical students at any Medical School in the UK. Students who take part will have an improved understand of ME and, we hope, be better able to diagnose and support people with the illness.

Win a cash prize!

We are offering the winner of the competition £250. We aim to publish the winning essay in a healthcare journal. We will also share the second and third placed essays on our website and in our membership magazine, InterAction.

Essay title: What is your most important learning point about ME/CFS? (500 words)

We are calling for essays of 500 words that offer insight into what healthcare professionals should consider when supporting a patient who may have ME, with reference to its impact on their quality of life and level of functioning, and emerging biomedical evidence on post-viral illnesses.

All students who enter are required to complete Learna's FREE StudyPRN CPD module, developed by Dr Nina Muirhead, to inform their submission. We also have links to many other educational resources on ME/CFS for those who want them.

When writing your essay, consider the gap between what you knew before you accessed the module, and what you know now. What will help you understand and support patients with ME/CFS?

You can read more about last year’s winning essays, and Dr Muirhead’s editorial on why this medical education is so important in The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Volume 54, Issue 2.

Closing date

To enter you need to submit your essay by email by noon on Monday 3 November 2025. Essays will be judged by a panel of medical professionals and people with lived experience of ME. The winner will be announced (and prize money awarded!) in the first week of December.

Please submit the essay with a completed cover sheet and do not include your name or contact details on the essay itself. Please use your university email to submit these documents.

Terms and conditions

• This competition is open to medical students studying at any level anywhere in in the UK.
• Essays should be no longer than 500 words. The word count does not include the reference list.
• References should be formatted in Harvard style. There is no limit for the number of references used.
• The name of the author or their contact details must not be included in the essay itself as essays will be anonymised for judging.
• The essay should be entirely your own original work and should not have been previously published.
• By entering the competition, participants agree, should they be awarded first, second or third place, to do a short interview and share a suitable photo of themselves that Action for ME can use to promote the competition, highlight the importance of medical education, and in our fundraising campaigns.
• The three highest-scoring essays will be shortlisted for first, second and third place respectively.
• The entrant awarded the first prize will be awarded a cash prize of £250.