Congratulations to Nicole Vassileff!

Congratulations to our winning entrant, Nicole Vassileff, for their submission, When the Eye Learns to Grow Back: The remarkable science of retinal regeneration.

A third-year medical student at Monash University, our 2026 AMWA Early Career Award winner, Nicole Vassileff, has long had a passion for writing and is now finding ways to bring that together with a growing knowledge of medicine and science.

Nicole’s winning entry explores the science of retinal regeneration and marks their first attempt at writing about medicine for a health literate general audience. The piece reflects their goal of making complex medical research “accessible and interesting to a general audience, so that people can engage with science, trust it, and are less vulnerable to the harms of pseudoscience.”

The judges were particularly impressed by how successfully Nicole achieved this. One commented that the work was “engaging and easy to digest” while another praised Nicole's ability to create a sense of excitement for a future solution to the health problem “without overselling its immediate implications.”

Described by the judging panel as clear, engaging, and well researched, this valuable piece demonstrated a clear talent for medical and health communication. As one judge concluded, “Excellent work overall. Australia needs more writers like them. Well done.”

On behalf of the AMWA Committee, congratulations to Nicole on an outstanding entry and a very deserving win.

You can read the 2026 winning article in full here.

As this year’s winner, Nicole will receive:

• A $1,000 cash prize
• Complimentary registration to the AMWA Annual Conference in Brisbane 
• Publicity via the AMWA website, e-newsletter, and social media channels
• Advice and support from AMWA members who are already established in the field of medical writing

Thank you to all those who submitted an entry this year. As always, the judging panel was impressed by the standard of all the submissions and faced with a very difficult task when choosing the winner.

The opening date for next year's award submissions will be advised in early 2027.