Amwa Early Career Award

AMWA supports the professional development of writers and editors who develop health and medical content for the mainstream press, consumers and health professionals.

To help aspiring writers enter the field of medical writing, AMWA facilitates an annual Early Career Award.

About the Early Career Award

The AMWA Early Career Award aims to assist members transition from tertiary education or other employment to a career in medical writing. AMWA members with fewer than two years’ experience in medical writing are eligible to apply.

Applicants for the AMWA Early Career Award will be assessed on a piece of writing of approximately 1000 words.

Submissions should focus on a topic that is strongly related to medicine and/or health.

Applicants must be current members of AMWA and the sole author of the work they submit (previously published pieces may be submitted).

Benefits of the Early Career Award

$1,000 cash prize
Complimentary registration to the AMWA Annual Conference (if applicable)
Publicity via the AMWA website, e-newsletter and social media channels
Advice and support from AMWA members already established in the field of medical writing

Application process

Applicants should include a short personal biography, i.e. no more than 400 words, detailing:

Why they are interested in medical writing
Any previous writing experience they have had
What they hope to achieve in their career as a medical writer
What role they see medical writers as having in society

Judging criteria include:

Ability to convey the importance of the topic to the intended audience
Interest, appeal and relevance
Accuracy and objectivity
Originality
Writing ability

The opening date for entries for the 2026 Early Career Award will be advised in early 2026.

Apply Now
Apply Now

Previous winning submissions:

2025 Early Career Award Winner - Halimat Atanda
2024 Early Career Award Winner - Alexa Arganda
2023 Early Career Award Winner - Amy Kelly
2022 Early Career Award Winner - Carol Chapman
2021 Early Career Award Winner – Manuela Callari
2020 Early Career Award Winner – Georgina Taylor
2019 Early Career Award Winner – Natalie Parletta
2018 Early Career Award Winner – Nidhi Sodhi

Upcoming Webinar - Statistics for Medical Writers

AMWA is pleased to bring you the first webinar of 2026. Presented by Dr Richard Kay, this webinar will give you a clear, logical structure for thinking about statistical methodology in pharmaceutical R&D. You'll be introduced to methods used in different settings, which are driven by the endpoint type, with a particular focus on binary (odds ratios, relative risks) and time to event (Kaplan-Meier curves, hazard ratios) endpoints. Ideas behind p-values, confidence intervals, and powering a study to detect important levels of effect will be covered. Each concept will be illustrated with case studies.