The Evolutionary Psychiatry SIG Essay Prize
Submissions for the Charles Darwin Essay Prize
What you can win
- Invitation to give a 10-min oral presentation at the EPSIG International Annual Conference 2025 for the core and speciality winners (and posters for highly commended other entrants) on 21 November 2025.
- £100 prize money and a certificate for the winner in each category, certificates for the runners up
- Essays printed in the EPSIG Newsletter that is distributed to all EPSIG members (currently around 2,800 psychiatrists and other professionals worldwide)
What you need to do
Write a 1500 - 2000 word essay (excluding references) relevant to Evolutionary Psychiatry.
The essay should be supported by a review of relevant literature and should be your own work.
The title is: “How an evolutionary perspective can improve our understanding of … (pick any one psychiatric condition)”.
You may want to visit the EPSIG YouTube channel at Youtube.com/EPSIGUK, listen to the 'Evolving Psychiatry' podcast (on all major platforms), or read our published newsletters for inspiration and information.
Email your submission to sigs@rcpsych.ac.uk with “Entry for EPSIG Essay prize” as the title by the deadline of 1 September 2025, along with the following details:
- Full name
- College number
- Category you are submitting your entry for
- Confirmation that you are working in the UK.
Eligibility
There are five categories:
- medical student
- foundation doctor
- resident in core training
- resident in higher/speciality training
- staff grade doctor.
You have to be working in the UK in order to be eligible to enter.
What we will do
Entries will be judged by a panel of three EPSIG Executive Committee members. Criteria for judging will include: clarity of expression, understanding of the evolutionary literature and evidence, testability of hypotheses or ideas, critical thinking and the overall ability to convey enthusiasm and originality.
The committee reserves the right not to award the prize if no entry reaching the agreed minimum standard is received.
We look forward to receiving your entry.