The MCA Legacy essay competition is held every year by the MCA. Prizes are awarded to the Medical Students whose essay best answers the adjudicators’ chosen title.  The 2026 MCA Essay Competition title is:

In 1976 Edwards and Gross described a new clinical syndrome of Alcohol Dependence. Fifty years later, how relevant and useful is the concept of the Alcohol Dependence Syndrome to the diagnosis and clinical management of alcohol-related health harm?

Entrants must submit a maximum 3,000 word essay referenced in the Vancouver style to address the topic. The word count does not include references, diagrams and tables.

Opened: 1 January 2026  Closed: 1 May 2026

Click here for full competition details and terms and conditions.

Previous Essay Titles & Winners

No and Low Alcohol products – solution or contributor to alcohol-related harms?

The market for no and low alcohol products is growing rapidly. Given the harms caused by alcohol, is this a good thing and if so to what extent?  You should consider what the evidence is for this relatively new development and look at the issue from a wide-ranging perspective, possibly including commercial imperatives, the conflation of no and low alcohol products into a single ‘no/low’ designation, the normalisation of alcohol, and relevant examples from other sectors such as the use of e-cigarettes.

  • 1st Prize: Lucy Pringle, University of Glasgow
  • Joint 2nd Prize:  Juliana Louw, University of Oxford, Radu Polschi, University College London, Josiah Wilson, University of Liverpool

What can be done to reduce the stigma associated with alcohol use disorders? Patients with mental health issues are often subject to stigma and those with alcohol use disorders particularly so, both from the general public and from health professionals. What can be done to eliminate stigma, which impacts negatively on the way in which patients are perceived and treated?

  • 1st Prize: Jessica Sinyor, University of Warwick
  • 2nd Prize: Alicia Piper, University of Edinburgh
  • 3rd Prize: Dania Mann-Wineberg, University of Manchester

It has been widely reported that youth alcohol consumption has decreased over recent years. What is the evidence to support this view? What are the implications for alcohol-related health harm, promotion of safe drinking and health policy?

  • 1st Prize: Bethany Whittard-Swift, University of Plymouth
  • 2nd Prize: Ioan Wardhaugh, University of Liverpool
  • 3rd Prize: Shubh Kumar, University of Oxford

You are a newly qualified doctor. On a ward round you believe you can smell alcohol on a senior colleague and their behaviour seems somewhat different from usual. How would you address this situation? What might be the difficulties in doing so?

Your answer should take into consideration the guidance of the General Medical Council and NHS policy on alcohol in the workplace. How common a situation is this? What help is available in the United Kingdom for doctors with an alcohol problem and how effective is such help? In your account make reference as to how you might monitor for and ensure future sobriety in a doctor who is impaired in this way in order to protect patients.

  • 1st Prize: Jonathan De Oliveira, St. George’s, University of London
  • 2nd Prize (Joint): Jessica Mendall, University College London
  • 2nd Prize (Joint): Chloe Milton, Anglia Ruskin Medical School

Covid-19 – It’s enough to drive you to drink

The relationship between alcohol and Covid is multifaceted. There is evidence that alcohol consumption has increased during lockdown, as have mental health problems. Services have been impacted. Some countries have in fact banned alcohol sales during this period. There is also a view that alcohol consumption may increase the risk of infection, for instance by causing disinhibition and reduced social distancing.

Your essay should consider both the effect of Covid on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related health harm and whether alcohol use increases Covid risk. Also discuss how we should best address problem drinking during the pandemic.

  • 1st Prize: Miriam Gill, University of Aberdeen
  • 2nd Prize: John Adam, University of Southampton
  • 3rd Prize (Joint): Maria Anna Bantounou, University of Aberdeen, Neha Gareja, University College London, Alexander Harper, University of Leicester

 ‘I don’t want to go to rehab’

‘Rehab’ is often mentioned in the context of alcohol and other addictions but what do we actually mean by this term? What models exist other than a twelve-step based approach? What is the availability of rehab in the UK and what is the evidence for its effectiveness? Who gets rehab and who might benefit the most? To what extent are motivation or other factors critical in achieving a successful outcome?

  • 1st Prize: Saranya Baleswaran, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry
  • 2nd Prize: Shreyas Moodalbyle, University of Birmingham
  • 3rd Prize: Gemma Swann, University of Glasgow

‘He who knows alcohol knows medicine.’  Discuss.

The above statement paraphrases Sir William Osler (1849-1919), the renowned Canadian physician, on syphilis. Osler was known as the Father of Modern Medicine and as well as possessing exceptional diagnostic skills was a great edu­cator.

In the UK alcohol consumption is a cultural norm. It is also a contributing factor to disease in every medical specialty, through a range of pathological mechanisms. All doctors should be educated to diagnose and manage alcohol-re­lated health harm. This is a challenge, given overloaded curricula, the personal circumstances of individual doctors who may or may not drink alcohol themselves and the idea that ‘everybody’s business is nobody’s business’.

In this essay, you should consider where in the medical curriculum alcohol should be taught, how best to incorporate it into consultations with patients and the role of medical students’ and other health professionals’ own views on alcohol.

  • 1st Prize: Olivia Azouaghe, Nottingham University
  • 2nd Prize: Amal Minocha, University College London
  • 3rd Prize: Niamh Slevin, Queen’s University Belfast

I don’t have time to talk to my patients about alcohol

Alcohol is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality and its impact is seen in every medical specialty. What evidence is there for addressing alcohol consumption in all medical consultations? How could more frequent and more effective interventions be achieved?

  • 1st Prize: Ji-Yun Stephanie Yeung, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
  • 2nd Prize: Cameron Morrice, University of Glasgow
  • 3rd Prize: Shannon Gunawardana, University of Oxford

Do the new UK Government guidelines for alcohol take gender equality too far?

In 2016 the UK government announced new weekly recommended maximum alcohol intake guidelines. The recommendations for males have been lowered so that for the first time they are the same for males and females. In the light of differences between male and female patterns of drinking and physiology, is this a sound recommendation or has gender equality been taken too far?

  • 1st Prize: Joseph Amel, University of Oxford
  • 2nd Prize (Joint): Melissa Denker, University of Glasgow
  • 2nd Prize (Joint): Michalis Hadjiandreou, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Why do poor people have more alcohol-related deaths than rich people?

Discuss whether it is true that higher socioeconomic class is associated with higher alcohol intake but with less alcohol-related health harm than lower socioeconomic class, and the possible reasons for this.

  • 1st Prize: Jessica Dunphy, University of Birmingham
  • 2nd Prize: Conor Walsh, Imperial College London
  • 3rd Prize (Joint): Yassmeen Radif, University College London, Michael Zihao Tai, University of Oxford

Are we daft to drink?

Alcohol is an addictive substance with the potential to cause significant damage to the brain and other organs. The effects on individuals and society from excess alcohol consumption are well established. Yet alcohol is legal and widely consumed. How can we explain alcohol’s continued consumption in the face of overwhelming evidence of its negative effects? Are we daft to drink?

  • 1st Prize: Jordan Bamford, Queen’s University, Belfast
  • 2nd Prize: Nancy Bray, University of Warwick
  • 3rd Prize: Linda Skelly, Lancaster University Medical School