The Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Prize for an outstanding essay on Indigenous health by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person was first awarded in 2005.

From 2011, the competition has been expanded to include a second category: original artwork. Images can tell powerful stories and we believe that adding this category will further enrich the MJA's exploration of the most important topic in Australian health care.

The competition is open to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who is working, researching or training in a health-related field; we are looking for essays or artworks that present original and positive ideas aimed at promoting health gains and health equity for Australia's Indigenous peoples. After all, real insights and solutions come from within, not from without.

Winning entries are published in the Journal's Indigenous Health issue (the second issue in May each year), and attract a prize of $2000 in each category. Other entries of high merit may also be published.

Essays: should be no more than 2000 words long
Artworks: should be submitted as a digital photograph, with a brief description of the message that the artwork is conveying. Send as a tiff or jpeg file format at 300 dpi (minimum width 9 cm).

Closing date: Monday, 4 April 2011.

A panel, including external experts and MJA editorial staff, will judge finalist entries, and judges will be blinded to the identities of the authors. The judges' decision will be final.

Before entering the competition, please take a moment to read about Dr Ross Ingram (below), and feel free to follow the links to previous years' finalists and winners.

Previous winners of the competition

2010

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Winning Essay: Healing our communities, healing ourselves Jane Harrison — Med J Aust 2010; 192 (10): 556-557.

2009

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Winning Essay: Antecedents of chronic kidney disease in Aboriginal offenders in New South Wales prisons Beverley F Spiers — Med J Aust 2009; 190 (10): 524-526.

2008

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Winning Essay: The heart of the matter is, that it’s a matter of the heart Barry N Fewquandie — Med J Aust 2008; 188 (10): 580-582.

2006

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Winning Essay: Unknown family at the taxi stand Dennis McDermott — Med J Aust 2006; 184 (10): 519-520.

2005

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Winning Essay: Fish traps — a significant part of our health and wellbeing Geoffrey A Angeles — Med J Aust 2005; 182 (10): 541-543.

Ross Ingram (16  Feb 1967 – 15 May 2003)

Ross Ingram was an Indigenous doctor who died in 2003, aged 36, of cardiovascular disease. At the time of his sudden death he was working as a GP in the New South Wales rural town of Leeton.

Ross grew up in the Leeton area, where he was educated at the local primary and high schools. In 1984 he was named Young Citizen of the Year for Leeton, and in 1985, while vice-captain of Leeton High School, he received a Rotary Citizenship Award. In 1987 he was awarded a National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Award for Aboriginal Youth of the Year.

Ross was the first Indigenous person from NSW to be accepted into the University of Newcastle’s Medical School. He enrolled in 1986 and graduated in 1993, the first Wiradjuri person to become a doctor. Life and medicine took him to an internship and residency in Gosford, then general practice on the NSW central coast and in Tasmania, and finally back to practise in Wiradjuri Country (central western New South Wales). His death is the first among the small community of Indigenous doctors who have been graduating from Australian medical schools since 1984.

A keen practitioner of softball, football and cricket, as well as medicine, Ross was proud of his achievements both as a man and an Indigenous man. He is remembered by a loving family, including his wife, Julie, three children and three stepchildren.