Undergraduate Student Essay Prize: Winner announced

Read on to find out more about our 2021 Undergraduate Student Essay Prize, including our winner and how to apply next year.

We're pleased to announce that the winner of our 2021 Undergraduate Student Essay Prize.

About the prize

The prestigious prize, first launched in 2015 and inspired by family planning pioneer Dr Margaret Jackson, gives medical undergraduate students the chance to present their ideas on current and topical aspects of sexual and reproductive health in an essay. The prize aims to encourage the next generation of healthcare professionals to engage with new and contemporary ideas within the realms of sexual and reproductive health, while expanding our understanding of where SRH is going next.

The winning essay

Karinn Farquharson has won with her essay entitled "A Hidden Majority: The public health crisis of Female Genital Mutilation in Somalia". Our judging panel felt that Karinn provided a "thought-provoking" perspective on a topic that was both relevant and important to the SRH community. 

We spoke to Karinn about her win, who stated that "the sexual and reproductive health of women, especially those in low-income settings, has been ignored for far too long. With further research and interventions, we can support these women to achieve better reproductive health and sexual liberation."

Karinn has won £150 and a free ticket to our next online Hot Topic event in 2022 for her brilliant work. 

You can read Karinn's essay here. 

 

Runners-up essays

We received a record number of applicants this year, and we are pleased to share our two joint runners-up for the prize are:

Harriet Bramwell: "How do we respond to the care needs for transmen in a gynaecological setting?"

Saif Abbas Chato: "HIV risks in the transgender Hijra community of the Indian Subcontinent (specifically India and Pakistan), and potential prevention methods."

Both of our runners up received £75 and a free ticket to our next online Hot Topic event in 2022. 

Undergraduate Student Essay Prize 2022

Stay tuned for our next essay prize competition that will take place in 2022 on our awards page. You can find out more about this year's essay prize here.