Essay Contest Invites Students to Reflect on Trust and Professionalism
January 29, 2026
Since 2022, the ABIM Foundation’s Building Trust Essay Contest has offered students and trainees of health professions an opportunity to share how they have or are building trust with their schools, faculty, peers, family, patients, and communities.
This year, we invite students and trainees to reflect on a moment when medical professionalism helped you respond to or overcome a structural or systemic challenge in a way that built or strengthened trust or improved care. This experience may come from clinical care, education, teamwork, advocacy, or community engagement.
In your essay, describe how professionalism showed up not only as a personal value but as a shared practice – one that influenced how you or others took responsibility, worked together, or acted with purpose to serve patients, communities, or the public good. Your example doesn’t need to be extraordinary; we’re interested in moments that reveal how professionalism operates in real-world settings.
Submission Deadline: March 30, 2026
Read the Full Prompt (pdf) | Submit Your Essay
Submission requirements
The Building Trust Essay Contest is open to students and trainees across all health professions (e.g., nursing, physical therapy, social work) in the United States. Submissions must be an original essay of 750 words or less. Essays must be written in English and only one submission per student will be accepted.
Selection criteria
An independent panel of judges will review and select up to four winning essays. Up to 10 honorable mentions will also be awarded. Essays will be judged on the following equally weighted criteria:
- Connection to trust and professionalism themes in a reflective and meaningful way, including attention to structural or systemic context
- Quality of writing and clarity of thought
- Novelty of the message
- Opportunity for others to learn, including insights that may inform collective or scalable action
The Prize
Up to four winners will each receive:
- An invitation to the 2026 ABIM Foundation Forum (July 25-28, 2026, in Stowe, VT), which includes:
- Travel to and from Stowe, VT
- Three (3) nights lodging
- All meals during the trip, including those not provided as part of Forum programming
Winning essays will be published on the ABIM Foundation’s website and through the Foundation’s newsletters and social media channels.Winners’ schools or institutions will also be notified of their recognition.
