Prize for exposing ‘fake’ health news now open

The Royal Society of Medicine is pleased to once again support the Sarah Hughes Trust prize for journalism that exposes false or misleading information in health or medicine, now open to entries. 

The Sarah Hughes Trust, in conjunction with the History of Medicine Society at the RSM and the Medical Journalists’ Association, is inviting submissions from any healthcare practitioner and/or trainee or established journalist who has debunked fake news in the field of health or medical journalism. The purpose of the prize is to further positive collaboration between journalists and healthcare practitioners, taking into account both equality and diversity. 

The prize is open to submissions from now up until the deadline for entries on Sunday 1 September 2024. The judges will be looking for a piece in any media form – online, print or broadcast – from the last 12 months that demonstrates journalistic probity, medical accuracy and is clear and compelling in its communication. Full details of how to apply can be found here: Sarah Hughes Trust prize. 

The winner of the £1,000 prize will be announced at the annual Sarah Hughes Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine on Tuesday 3 December 2024. Lady Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, PC, FBA, former President of the Supreme Court UK, will deliver this year’s lecture on the theme of 'Press freedom and personal privacy – a clash of rights?'.  

Now in its third year of running, the prize was set up in memory of the late Guardian and Observer journalist Sarah Hughes, who died from breast cancer in 2021 at the age of 48. Talented journalist Sarah was a history graduate from St Andrews University and was fascinated by, studied and wrote about the human condition in all its manifestations, good or bad, real or imagined. Her family and friends crowdfunded to establish the Trust, memorial lecture and annual prize in her name. 

The prize was won in 2023 by Helen Puttick, a specialist reporter for The Times in Scotland, for a series of articles challenging the Scottish government's claims on the NHS Inform website that people waited a median of 26 weeks for orthopaedic care. In 2022, the inaugural prize was awarded to BBC News journalists Rachel Schraer and Jack Goodman for their exposé of the false science that fuelled belief in ivermectin as a ‘miracle drug’ for treating COVID-19. 

Professor Sean Hughes, Sarah’s father, is a Past-President of the History of Medicine Society at the Royal Society of Medicine.