'Growing up with an RMD – learning, transitioning from paediatrics and the impacts on childhood and the family.'

The 2025 Edgar Stene Prize essay competition is now open.

Last year the winner was an Irish entry, this year it could be you!

The EULAR Edgar Stene Prize essay competition is an international writing competition with the aim to increase awareness of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

The prize is awarded every year to the best essay contribution submitted by a person with arthritis or other rheumatic or musculoskeletal disorder (RMD) describing their individual experience of living with an RMD. Entries may cover such aspects as living with the disease day-to-day, social welfare, the influence of the disease on family life and work, etc.

You are invited to consider the following questions and issues in your essay (please adapt accordingly if writing from the perspective of the parent or your own experience as having grown up with a rheumatic/musculoskeletal disease):

• How did your RMD impact your childhood?
• What did it mean for your friendships, relationships and family?
• How was your education affected – for example kindergarten/nursery, school, and university (if applicable)?
• How was your employment affected, for example your first job?
• What did it mean to transition from paediatric to adult rheumatology care?
• What was the most challenging during these years?
• What information, support or help would you have wished to have been available for yourself or your family?
• What are the biggest challenges for families whose child has an RMD?
• Are people usually aware that children are affected by RMDs? How do people react when you tell them you have an RMD? Is there a stigma connected to children having an RMD?
• What could be improved in the healthcare system to support children and their families more adequately to cope with the impact of a chronic illness?
• How should policy makers ensure that chronically ill children have the same opportunities in life as anyone else?

Participants are requested to submit their entries to Arthritis Ireland by 25 November 2024 (further details are below). The Irish winner will be announced on 16 December 2024 and that entry proceeds to the European competition. The overall winners will be selected by the 2025 Edgar Stene Prize Jury, to be announced by 15 March 2025, then awarded at the Opening Plenary session taking place at the EULAR European Congress of Rheumatology EULAR 2025, on 11th June 2025 in Barcelona, Spain.

The competition has a first prize money of EUR 1,000, including an accommodation and travel bursary and registration to the EULAR Congress 2025 (to attend the Opening Plenary session) and an invitation to the EULAR Family and Congress dinners*. Second and third prizes are awarded with prize money of EUR 700 and EUR 300 respectively.

Read the 2022 winning entry by Nora Sofia Dubilier

Read the 2023 winning entry by Shauna O'Connor

Read the 2024 winning entry by Emma O'Carroll

Submission guidelines

1. Essays may be submitted by any person living with a rheumatic or musculoskeletal disease (minimum age of 18 years). Entries are to be submitted to Arthritis Ireland by email to [email protected] on or before 25th November 2024.
2. For the 2025 competition, entries will exceptionally be accepted by parents of a child with an RMD.
3. Essays should not exceed 2 pages (typewritten, Arial 12-point, single line space, adequate frames). All entries must be submitted in MS Word (DOC/DOCX format). PDF files will not be accepted.
4. Essays must be:
   • original and unpublished. Plagiarised entries will be rejected.
   • written by one person. Co-authored essays are not accepted.
5. Copyright of the essays entered will be assigned to the organiser.

Please include the following with your submission: 

• Email address and contact number
• Portrait picture in high resolution 
• 2-3 short paragraphs about yourself including age, profession, family, hometown, hobbies, how you learned about the Edgar Stene Prize, why you chose to enter the competition
• Signed copy of EULAR's official publication consent form. Please note for 2025: If a parent of a child with a rheumatic or musculoskeletal disease submits and essay and the child is 10 years of age or older, both the parent and the child must give consent and submit a signed copy of the consent form.

Launch Edgar Stene Prize 2025

Consent and Release Form

Edgar Stene Prize Rules 2025

Value and awarding of the prizes

• 1st Prize: The competition has a first prize money of EUR 1,000, including a travel and accommodation bursary (4 nights), registration to the EULAR Congress (to attend the Opening Plenary session) and an invitation to the EULAR Family and EULAR Congress dinners*.
• 2nd and 3rd Prizes: Second and third prizes are awarded with prize money of EUR 700 and EUR 300 respectively.

*Should the EULAR Congress 2025 be held as a virtual event for any reason, all Congress destination related activities to come with the Stene Prize (travel to the EULAR Congress 2025, accommodation, participation in the on-site Congress and the Opening Plenary Session, EULAR Congress related Dinners) will be cancelled. There is no right to receive any of these related activities as monetary refund nor will they be moved to a later point in time. 

Please note: the Stene Prize money will still be awarded and not be impacted.

Composition of the EULAR jury

The Jury shall comprise five voting members, of whom not more than two shall be medical doctors, appointed by the EULAR PARE Committee. The EULAR Vice-President PARE and the Chair of the PARE Committee shall be ex-officio members of the Jury. The ex-officio members have no voting rights. A Jury shall be appointed for each prize and no member may sit more than twice in succession.

The Stene Prize shall be awarded by an absolute majority decision. If no entry is judged worthy of the prize then it shall not be awarded. The winning contribution and the other entries may be published after the presentation of the prize in whatever form the author, the national organisation or EULAR may decide.

No legal or other objection to the majority decision of the Jury is possible. Any discussions or correspondence concerning the decision are excluded.