Guidelines:

Undergraduate Guidelines

Eligibility

This competition is open to undergraduate students from any discipline currently enrolled in any university on the African continent in a Bachelors or Honours degree (entrants will be required to upload a certified proof of registration/enrolment in 2025 as part of the submission process).

Submissions

The Oxford Abstracts platform is used for submissions.

To access the submissions page, you need to first register at: www.oxfordabstracts.com

Format

Length: Essays should be 800-1000 words long (excluding title and references).

On submission: Copy and paste the title, main text, and references into the relevant sections in the online form.

Language: Essays must be written in English.

Prizes

Cash prizes:

• 1^st prize USD 2,000
• 2^nd prize USD 1,000
• 3^rd prize USD 500

Top 10: eCertificate; a health economist and media specialist will work with the top 10 to publicise their ‘voices’ on social media.

Topics

Essays have to focus on the following topics:

• The Cost of Distance: When Geography Shapes Health
• Climate on the Clinic Doorstep
• Antibiotics and the Dilemmas of Healthcare Decisions
• What – and Who – Keeps the Health System Running
• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Healthcare
• The Political Economy of Health Financing

Rules:

The organiser reserves the right to not make an award.

• Entrants may only submit one entry.
• The central focus in the entrant’s essay has to be one of the above topics. Essays focusing on issue outside this scope, will not be reviewed.
• Entrants should cite at least three academic sources in the essay.
• The essay must be the entrant’s own original, unpublished work. Joint, team and co-authored entries are not permitted.

Closing date

• Entries close on 31 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.

Review

Essays will be screened for compliance with the technical requirements (see Format) and reviewed using the broad criteria below. Shortlisted entrants will be interviewed online by the panel of judges.

Criteria:

• Understanding and Insight (20%) – This criterion assesses how well the writer understands the chosen topic, showing depth, originality, and awareness of relevant health economics issues on the African context.
• Argument and Analysis (30%) – This criterion evaluates the logical strength, coherence, and evidence behind the essay’s main health economics-based arguments.
• Policy Relevance and Contribution (30%) – This criterion considers how effectively the essay links ideas to real-world policy challenges and their potential solutions in African contexts.
• Clarity of Expression and Structure (10%) – This criterion measures how clearly and engagingly the essay communicates its ideas, including organisation, readability, and tone.
• Use of Sources and Integrity (10%) – This criterion examines how responsibly evidence and references are used, and whether the work reflects academic honesty.

Artificial Intelligence:

The use of AI is permitted, but only where employed responsibly and ethically to augment the entrant’s own work and writing. A declaration on AI use is required on submission.

Citations and References

Entrants must use one of two citation formats, APA or Harvard, for all in-text citations and the list of references. Entrants must ensure that all information or quotes that are not their own work are properly cited.

Contact

For technical or administrative inquiries, contact the organiser at: essay.sef@wits.ac.za

Postgraduate Guidelines

Eligibility

This competition is open to postgraduate students from any discipline currently enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral/PhD degree at any university on the African continent (entrants will be required to upload a certified proof of registration/enrolment in 2025 as part of the submission process).

Submissions

The Oxford Abstracts platform is used for submissions. To access the submissions page, you need to first register at: www.oxfordabstracts.com

Format

Length: Papers should be 4,500–5,500 words long (excluding title, abstract and references; include the word count for the main text on the title page – do NOT include your name or any personal information on the title page, ONLY the title.

Formatting: Typed, in single-spaced 12?point Times New Roman font.

File Type: Submit a single PDF file via the designated submission portal (to preserve anonymity, do not include your name or other personal information in the file name).

Language: Papers must be written in English.

Prizes

Cash prizes:

• 1^st prize USD 5,000
• 2^nd prize USD 3,000
• 3^rd prize USD 1,000

A published health economist(s) will mentor each of the three winners to publish their paper in a scientific journal.

Top 10:

eCertificate; a health economist and media specialist will work with the top 10 to publicise their ‘voices’ on social media.

Topic

Papers must address a question or issue grounded in health economics, incorporating the application of economic principles and methods to health and healthcare. Papers may draw on other disciplines, but the central contribution should advance the understanding of economic aspects of health systems, health policy, and/or health behavior.

Rules:

The organiser reserves the right to not make an award.

• Entrants may only submit one entry.
• The central focus in the entrant’s paper has to be a health economic topic or theme. Papers focusing on issues outside of health economics, will not be reviewed.
• The essay must be the entrant’s own original, unpublished work. Joint, team and co-authored entries are not permitted.

Closing date

Entries close on 31 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.

Review

Papers will be screened for compliance with the technical requirements (see Format) and reviewed using the broad criteria below. Shortlisted entrants will be interviewed online by the panel of judges.

Criteria:

• Contribution (50%) - This criterion evaluates the originality and significance of the research in advancing understanding of key health economics issues in Africa. Strong submissions will demonstrate a meaningful contribution to knowledge and policy, offering fresh insights or evidence that can inform real-world decision-making.
• Methodology (30%) - This criterion assesses how well the research methods are chosen, justified, and applied. High-quality entries will use appropriate, robust, and innovative approaches to address their research question, supported by relevant and reliable data or appropriate theory, and a clear, transparent analytical process.
• Clarity of Expression and Structure (20%) - This criterion focuses on how effectively the ideas are expressed and organised. Strong papers will be clearly written, logically structured, and accessible to a broad policy and academic audience, using concise language that communicates the argument and findings persuasively.

Artificial Intelligence:

The use of AI is permitted, but only where employed responsibly and ethically to augment the entrant’s own work and writing. A declaration on AI use is required on submission.

Citations and References

Entrants must use one of two citation formats, APA or Harvard, for all in-text citations and the list of references. Entrants must ensure that all information or quotes that are not their own work are properly cited.

Contact

For technical or administrative inquiries, contact the organiser at: essay.sef@wits.ac.za