- All shortlisted applicants and co-authors will receive a certificate for their portfolio
- One winner and one highly commended entry will be announced in each category
- The lead author of the winning and highly commended entries from each category will receive a free virtual delegate place at Medicine 2027
- All shortlisted posters submitted to our virtual poster competition are considered by the editorial teams of the RCP journals who will assess whether they offer scope for expanding into full journal articles for potential publication in one of our peer reviewed journals, Clinical Medicine, and the Future Healthcare Journal.
The virtual nature of this national competition allows you to participate wherever you are located in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales.
The aim of the initiative is to celebrate the achievements of medical students, foundation doctors and resident doctors and, if shortlisted, enables professional development of presentation, leadership and public speaking skills- all on a virtual platform.
Meet the 2025 competition winners
We're pleased to announce the winners and highly commended presenters for the 2025 Virtual poster competition.
Our panel of senior physicians noted the high standard of abstracts entered across all four categories and the enthusiasm shared by all of the shortlisted authors.
Thank you to everyone who applied for the 2025 competition. The next competition will open in spring 2026 - register your interest now and read more information below.
Key stages of this national competition
The 2026 competition will open for applications on Saturday 28 March 2026 and close at midnight on Wednesday 27 May 2026.
Stage 1: Submission – resident doctors are invited to submit a 500-word abstract about your project. Applications can be made in groups, but you must identify a lead author. The lead author must submit the application and will need to be an RCP subscribing member. Find out if you're eligible here.
Stage 2: Shortlisting – all submitted abstracts will be verified to check that the lead author is eligible to apply. If applications are not eligible, they will be rejected. Verified applications that meet the eligibility criteria will be reviewed by senior physicians and shortlisted applicants will be asked to prepare a poster to present at one of four competition panels.
Stage 3: Online competition – lead authors of shortlisted abstracts will be asked to transform their abstract into a one slide PowerPoint poster and will be invited to present their poster to a judging panel on a virtual meeting (via Microsoft Teams). A judging panel from across the UK regions will join us live to listen to your presentation. They will each score you on your poster design, your presentation and the answers given to their questions. All shortlisted authors ( including co-authors) will be invited to attend to support their peers.
Read the eligibility criteria
Why apply?
'Winning the RCP virtual poster competition [ in the QiP category] is a notable career highlight. It formally recognises the work my team and I have done in quality improvement and patient safety.
Dr Pharveen Jaspal - winner, quality improvement and patient safety/audit category, 2025
Contact us
The RCP virtual poster competition is run and delivered by the RCP Regional team, for more information, contact PosterCompetition@rcp.ac.uk