Research Awards

Celebrating excellence in primary care research is an important part of the Research Programme at the RCGP. These awards celebrate research and help to promote them to GPs and the wider primary healthcare community.

• Research opportunities and awards

Research awards and travel scholarships

We also offer a number of awards and scholarships recognising achievements in research and helping practitioners gain international experience.

John Fry Award

The John Fry Award is normally presented each year by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), in consultation with the Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC).

The John Fry Award is presented to a Member or Fellow of the College who has promoted the discipline of general practice through research and scholarship. The award is intended to encourage people to undertake research as a practising GP, within 20 years of qualification as a GP, and not holding a professorial role.

• Download John Fry award criteria (PDF file, 77 KB) 

The Kieran Sweeney Prize 2021

A national UK prize for medical writing by GPs. Awarded by The Tamar Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners

• Rules and Entry criteria (Word doc, 272 KB)
• Application form

Clinical Impact Awards for Senior Academic General Practitioners

Applications for the 2022 national Clinical Impact Awards will open during April 2022.

• RCGP guidance for submitting an award (PDF, 141 KB)

Rose Prize

The Rose Prize for original work in the history of British general practice is held every two years with the next deadline due in early 2023.  For details of the most recent award:

• Rose Prize criteria (197 KB PDF)

Fraser Rose Medal and the RACGP Trainee's Book Prize Award

The Fraser Rose Medal is awarded annually to the candidate who in completing the examination and concluding their training, has demonstrated outstanding performance to the panel of examiners. 

It was instituted by the Merseyside and North Wales faculty in 1972 and named in honour of Dr Fraser Rose who took a leading part in the formation of the RCGP.

The Royal Australian College donates a Trainee's Book Prize each year to be awarded to the Fraser Rose Medal winner.

• Fraser Rose Medal and the RACGP Trainee's Book Prize award criteria

Paul Freeling Award

Deadline: 22 July 2022

Award or awards of up to £1,000 for innovative or meritorious work in the field of GP Specialty Training for general practice. 

• Paul Freeling award application form (137 KB PDF)

GP Specialty Trainee Award

Deadline for applications: 29 April 2022

Awarded for original and innovative work undertaken during GP specialty training. Up to five awards are available to attend the RCGP Annual Primary Care Conference in London from 29 June – 1 July 2022.

• GP Specialty Trainee Awards criteria and how to enter (156 KB PDF)

RCGP-SAPC Annual elective prize

Deadline: end of May each year
An annual prize of £500 is awarded for the best proposal by a medical student for an elective based in Primary Care/General Practice. The proposal might be to submit a relevant ‘think piece’, research, improvement, innovation, invention, evaluation or audit.

• Apply for RCGP SAPC prize (95 KB PDF)

RCGP Certificate of Commendation

RCGP Certificate of Commendation is for GPs or others whose efforts and exceptional contributions can be shown to have helped general practice and primary care achieve better outcomes – for patients or for staff.

Candidates for the award should normally be College Members or Fellows or non-medical people associated with general practice or the wider field of primary care. The nomination must demonstrate the consistent individual contribution to excellent general practice. The nomination also needs to show how their personal impacts differ from those of any team or organisation where they work, and that their outputs go beyond those of any role they are employed to play.

A maximum of 50 certificates can be awarded each year.

• Download certificate of commendation criteria [PDF]

Foundation Council Award

Deadline: End of March each year

One award will be made each year in recognition of consistent excellent efforts and contributions that heave helped the RCGP as a professional organisation to achieve excellence in its work as a membership and representative body for GPs.

George Abercrombie Award

Awarded from time to time for special meritorious literary work in general practice. The nominations are put to the Editorial Board of BJGP in the first instance and the Board's recommendation are put forward to the Fellowship and Awards Committee for consideration in April.

Honorary Fellowships

Deadline for nominations: end of March and August each year.

An award through which individuals who are not a Member or Fellow of the College, nor eligible to be so, are recognised for outstanding work towards the objective of the College: ‘To encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in general medical practice’. In practice, this will mean that the individual has either made an exceptional contribution to helping the RCGP as a professional body to achieve this objective or has made a direct contribution to improving the working lives of GPs and their care of patients. This contribution may have been enabled by a post which the candidate holds / has held, but must go beyond their formal remit and be a chosen commitment and prioritisation on their part towards general practice.

Honorary Fellows may use the post-nominal FRCGP[Hon] after their name. Under the College byelaws, no more than twelve Honorary Fellows can be elected in a College year. No fee is paid by a candidate appointed as an Honorary Fellow.

• Download honorary fellowships form [Word]

The President's Medal

Deadline for nominations: End of March each year

One award will be made each year in recognition of consistent excellent efforts and contributions that have achieved the RCGP’s overall mission ‘To encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in general medical practice.’ The successful candidate will usually be in the later stages of their career and the award acknowledges a cumulative contribution over their working lifetime to the development of general practice as a service to patients.

RCGP Membership under Ordinance 4(2)

Deadline for nominations: End of March and August each year.

Given in exceptional individual cases to doctors who have made a significant contribution to primary care, and for whom sitting the examination would be inappropriate at the stage they have reached in their career.

• Download membership under ordinance form [Word]

Discovery Prize Award

The Discovery Prize is awarded every three years for outstanding research in general practice. Important discoveries in general practice have transformed health care and the wellbeing of patients. The Discovery Prize recognises contemporary achievement of similar stature with continuing major importance for primary care in the UK and overseas.

• Next award: 2021

RCGP Adolescent Health Care Award

This award is made in memory of Dr Kathy Phipps, who was an active and enthusiastic member of the RCGP Adolescent Health Group. The group aims to improve the quality of care and health outcomes for adolescents.

A discretionary prize of £250 will be awarded to the best poster on the theme of Adolescent Health Care for the RCGP Annual Primary Care Conference in October 2021.

The deadline for poster submissions will be confirmed at the end of March.
 
The conference will be from 14-15 October 2021 in Liverpool.

RCGP Inspire Awards

The RCGP Inspire Awards celebrate the invaluable contribution of our Member volunteers and the difference they make to bettering general practice and the RCGP throughout the year.

The awards took place in 2021. They were about rewarding GPs and others across our diverse and widespread community of members who made a significant contribution to the mitigating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Celebrate our members

John Horder Award

Deadline: End of February each year

The John Horder award recognises exceptional contributions by members of RCGP staff and will be presented at the College's Annual General Meeting.

The Chair of the Fellowship and Awards Committee invites nominations each year.

Michael Drury Award

Deadline: End of February each year

The Michael Drury Award recognises exceptional service by a staff member working out with the College headquarters. The award is presented at the College's Spring General Meeting.

The Chair of the Fellowship and Awards Committee invites nominations each year.

RCGP Scotland

• RCGP Scotland Outstanding GP Award (annual): The award will recognise outstanding achievement of quality patient care. GPs can be nominated by their colleagues and peers or, where applicable, by the local PPG/patient group.
• RCGP Scotland Alastair Donald Award (annual): The award will recognise outstanding achievement in the areas of service delivery, education, research and wider contribution to society. It will also commemorate the contribution that Alastair Donald made to the RCGP.
• RCGP Scotland Student Award for Creativity in General Practice (annual): The award will be given a Scottish medical student or foundation doctor in Scotland who has provided a creative piece which illustrates what general practice means to them and the impact that GP has on patient care.
• RCGP Scotland Early Career Academic GP Award (annual): It is open to all GPs in Scotland who have completed CCT within the last 5 years and do not yet have a higher degree (PhD or MD) or who were awarded their PhD in the same calendar year or the calendar year before the paper was published. Potentially, candidates could apply more than once in successive years, but they cannot apply more than three times in total.
• RCGP Scotland / NES Outstanding GP Trainer Award (annual): The award will be given to a GP Educational Supervisor in Scotland who has provided excellence in teaching and training of GP Trainees as detailed in the nomination form. Nominations can only be received from Trainees who have completed their training in the previous 18 months (and are therefore no longer GP Trainees).
• RCGP Scotland Outstanding GP Trainee Award (annual): The award will be given a GP Trainee in Scotland who has completed training and is considered outstanding by either their GP Educational Supervisor or TPD. The award will take into consideration all aspects of training and the journey that the Trainee may have taken. The nominator may wish the judging panel to consider any pertinent obstacles that a Trainee has had to overcome in the period of their training to demonstrate their overall achievement in completion of their training and the well-rounded, excellent GP they have become. Nominations can only be received from GP Educational Supervisors or TPD for Trainees who have completed their training in the previous 18 months (and therefore are no longer GP Trainees).
• RCGP Scotland/ Scottish Government Cluster Quality Improvement Project Award (annual): It is open to all clusters in Scotland. The application needs to describe an innovative improvement project that has been completed in the two years prior to the date of call for applications. The innovation should be described in no more than three pages of A4 via the available nomination form.
• RCGP Scotland Outstanding Practice Award (annual): The RCGP Scotland Practice Team Award recognises the outstanding work of Practice Teams in Scotland and the high standard of quality patient care they achieve.

North East Scotland Faculty

• Sir Lewis Ritchie Prize (annual): This annual award is presented to the trainee with the highest combined AKT and CSA scores of those completing training this year in the North East of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland.
• Innovation Award (annual): Innovative achievement within Primary Care in the North East of Scotland Region. This could include innovation in the clinical, administrative or managerial spheres.
• Palliative Care Award (annual): To recognise and acknowledge quality and achievement within Palliative Care.
• Provost Medal (annual; the Faculty Awards Committee will make its recommendation(s) for final approval by Faculty Board. The medal does not require to be awarded annually): The medal will usually be awarded to a member or fellow of the College, who has provided excellence/substantial contribution to General Practice in North East Faculty area and/or in a national or international context. On occasion and in exceptional circumstances, there may be a non member of the College that the Faculty would wish to recognise for their outstanding contribution to General Practice. All nominees must have a formal role within General Practice in North East Faculty area.
• AiT Conference Bursary (annual): 2 x AiTs to receive bursary to attend Annual Conference.
• Denis Durno Award (annual): The Denis Durno Award recognises GP educationalists including undergraduate teachers and those involved in postgraduate teaching, including trainers and educational supervisors within GP Specialty Training and those more widely involved in postgraduate education who have ‘gone the extra mile’ to deliver high quality personal teaching to young doctors preparing for careers in general practice. The Denis Durno Award has been endowed by NE Scotland Faculty to recognise the contribution of Dr Denis Durno MBE who was the first Regional Adviser in General Practice in NE Scotland.
• RCGP 1996 Spring Symposium Bursary (annual): To provide the opportunity for a General Practitioner from the North East of Scotland Faculty area to travel and study the delivery of general practice, or teaching and training programmes elsewhere.

West Scotland Faculty

• AiT Conference Competition (annual): 2 x AiTs in Faculty to win tickets to Annual Conference.
• WONCA Europe Conference Competition (annual): AiT or F5 in Faculty to win ticket to Conference.
• Community Prize (annual): Medical student who deserves to be recognised for their voluntary contribution in the local community.
• Stuart Murray Medal (annual): AiT in Faculty with highest CSA score.
• James Scobbie Medal (annual): AiT in Faculty with highest AKT score.

East Scotland Faculty

• AiT Conference Competition (annual): AiT Poster Prize - submit poster locally, one winner is selected to submit poster to Annual Conference. if selected to have their poster displayed, conference ticket paid, £200 towards travel expenses and £200 prize money.
• John Lawson Award (annual): Awarded to the final year student who gains the highest outcome results in their 5th year General Practice Placement. This result is a combination of the end of block assessment, professional attributes, Mini CESs and CBD.
• 4th Year Merit Awards (annual): Highest outcome results in 4th Year GP Placement and is a combination of the end of block assessment, professional attributes, Mini CEXs and CBD - this is for the £150 prize. The remaining Merit Awards - awarded to five 4th year students who gain the Highest outcome results after the Prizewinner is a combination of the end of block assessment, professional attributes, Mini CEXs and CBD..

North Scotland Faculty

• GPST of the Year Award (annual): The Award aims to recognise, celebrate and encourage Caledonian/Rural track Specialty Trainees who go over and above the requirements of the e-portfolio and exam process. This has been created by trainees for trainees with the support of RCGP North Scotland Faculty and NHS Education Scotland (NES).

South East Scotland Faculty

• Trainee of the year (annual): Awarded to local Trainee with the highest results in both AKT and CSA.
• Pat Manson Educators Award (annual): Nominated by local Trainees, in recognition of outstanding contribution made by anyone related to training (not just trainers).
• Provost Medal ("as and when" - not always presented annually): Awarded to someone in the Faculty in recognition to their work to general practice locally.
• Joint QiP award (annual): Joint award with NHS Education Scotland; Faculty provide the funding and NES do the selection process.

RCGP Wales

• GP of the Year (annual): Find out more about the GP of the Year award.
• Practice Team of the Year (annual): Find out more about the Practice Team of the Year award.
• Cluster Innovation Award (annual): This is a new RCGP Award for 2019, which will be presented at the Gala Awards Winter Ball.
• ThriveGP! Award (annual): New Award introduced in 2019. GPs need to demonstrate what mechanisms they use to achieve work/life balance and how this has contributed to how they thrive on a day to day basis.
• Trainee of the year (annual): Trainee who achieves the highest combined score in the RCGP Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA).

South West Wales Faculty

• Student Prize (annual): Students write a piece of reflective writing on their placement in general practice.
• Student Prize (annual): Year 2 Student Living with Diagnosis Project Case Study.
• Student Bursary x 2 (annual): Students apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.
• AiT Bursary x 2 (annual): Trainees apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.
• First5 Bursary x 1 (annual): First5 GPs apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.

South East Wales Faculty

• Student Prize (annual): Cardiff GP long case entries.
• Student Bursary x 2 (annual): Students apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.
• AiT Bursary x 2 (annual): Trainees apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.
• First5 Bursary x 1 (annual): First5 GPs apply for the conference ticket to attend RCGP Annual Conference.

North Wales Faculty

• No awards currently given.

RCGP Northern Ireland

• GP of the Year (annual): Patient nominated award. Nominations are now closed for 2021.
• Practice of the Year (annual): Patient nominated award. Nominations are now closed for 2021.
• Student Awards x 3 (annual): NI medical students have the opportunity to write a 500 word essay on why they want to be a GP. First prize and two runners up are awarded. The awards are now closed for 2021.
• Chair's Award (annual): Awarded to the AiT with the highest combined CSA and AKT examination scores in a given year.
• First5 Bursary (annual): NI First5 members apply for the award to attend RCGP conference or learning conference related to general practice. Each applicant can apply for up to £500 to cover costs for travel, booking fees, etc. The bursary is now closed for 2021.

Republic of Ireland Faculty

• Clinical Cases Presentations Prizes Competition 2022 (annual)

The importance of engaging with undergraduate students in medical schools is increasingly acknowledged in terms of developing the discipline of general practice, and in terms of assisting undergraduate medical students in their key career decisions. Clinical case presentations are useful as learning exercises, both for the individuals undertaking them, and also for those who listen to them, and who contribute to the ensuing discussions. To get involved please contact your medical school. The final of the Clinical Cases Prizes Competition will be held at the Republic of Ireland Faculty Spring Meeting 2022.

For more information contact roi@rcg.org.uk.

• Sheppard Memorial Prizes Competition 2022 (annual)

This competition commemorates Dr Jack Sheppard, who was a well-known GP in Dublin, elected Provost and founder member of the RCGP East of Ireland. He was a great beneficiary to the RCGP in Ireland. The Sheppard Memorial Prize is awarded annually by the Republic of Ireland Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

The essay competition is open to all undergraduate medical students and postgraduate doctors who are within five years of completing general practice training.

The essay must be minimum 1,500 words and maximum 3,000 words in length, and should be on a subject pertinent to General Practice in Ireland, past or present. It should include relevant literature, but particular credit will be given for original thought and relevance general practice.

Essays can be either:

1. Science based content (focused literature review, audit or original research)
2. Traditional essay content (reflective or narrative style)

Marks are awarded for overall presentation, structure, research, conclusions and relevance to general practice.

The value of the Prize is:

• €750: Postgraduate winner
• €500: Undergraduate winner

The Prizes winner should be prepared to make a presentation of their findings at the RCGP RoI Winter Meeting. The winning essays will be published on the RCGP website. See the 2020 winning essays (PDF file, 2 MB). 

Opening date to submit entries is 26 August 2022 for entries for the 2022 Sheppard memorial essay prizes competition. Closing date for submission of entries is Friday 4 November 2022 at 5pm.

Email: roi@rcgp.org.uk