Congratulations to this year’s Hugh Platt Foundation Essay Prize winner, Grace Gilmour. Grace is a simulation teaching fellow/F5 at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

The essay question for this year’s prize was '300,000 different pathology tests are performed every working day across the UK. Write about an example from your time as a foundation doctor where one of these pathology tests had a significant impact/outcome for either you or your patient.' We had a large number of entries this year, demonstrating the interest in pathology among UK foundation doctors.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition and to the judges, Professor Marta Cohen and Dr Matthew Clarke, who had the difficult task of scoring all the excellent essays and deciding on an overall winner.
The Hugh Platt Foundation Essay Prize will reopen in early 2027. In the meantime, you can read Grace’s winning essay on our competition webpage.

We also run an essay prize for undergraduates. The 2026 winner of the Paola Domizio Undergraduate Essay Prize was announced in July, and you can read the winning essay on the competition webpage.

We asked this year’s winner, Grace a few questions about this year's prize.

How did you feel when you found out you had won the award?
This is probably a very cliche answer but honestly; truly shocked! Was really not expecting to win it. Had to re-read the first line of the email about 5 times before it sank in and then was quickly pretty ecstatic. Then I had to re-read the essay I submitted as it was a few months ago now and I’d almost forgotten precisely what I had written!

What inspired you to enter the essay competition?
I have been somewhat adopted by a very inclusive and encouraging histopathology department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead (as there isn’t a centre at my hospital), after I approached them for some histopathology tasters a couple of years ago. Ever since then, they have been so accommodating and really taken me under their wing to help me gain more histopathology experience. One of the consultants there asked me if I had looked at the Royal College of Pathologists essay prizes. I looked at this year’s title and immediately recalled a few memorable cases from foundation training that had really stuck with me and would be applicable. I'm so grateful and appreciative for all the support I have received thus far. 

What foundation programme are you currently undertaking?
I actually completed foundation training in South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust in 2023 but have been working there as a teaching fellow since 2024 in both medicine and simulation. I can't seem to get away!

Future career aspiration:
All being well, I am applying to histopathology training this coming October. I have been exploring uro-genital histopathology this year with some research, but I do keep coming back to my interest in forensic pathology. I’m hoping to explore this even further in coming months!

What do you enjoy most about pathology?
I’ve always enjoyed the fact that pathology offers the chance to truly problem solve and allows a 'proper delve' into a subject to find the answer. I actually intercalated in experimental pathology back in 2019 and loved the peace and relative calm of the labs or a morgue in contrast to the busy wards or clinics that I was used to in my medical degree. Pathology also still offers the chance to work as part of a multidisciplinary team, just in a slightly different context!

Advice to others entering the competition?
It sounds incredibly corny, I am aware, but honestly, just write about a case or topic you are genuinely passionate about! It makes writing and researching so much more enjoyable and will produce a far more readable, emotive, and meaningful essay.