The great race

Voting in this year’s Christmas Competition was akin to picking the daily double, with two main categories emerging from the field — “humorous” and “true stories.”

Apart from the need for clarification about the number of votes allowed per person (thwarting any attempts at race fixing) and comments about the much needed upgrade for a new voting “box” (the current one has survived three office moves since 2001), the voting proceeded quickly and without incident. Once again, all entries were of very high quality and reached the finish line unscathed — with two winners (by a nose).

In the humorous category, “The hidden menace of non-equine horses” by John Craven and Jacquie Schutz won the day. The paper fills an important gap in the scientific literature and will no doubt have you recounting some of your own childhood encounters with this beast in its various guises.

True stories are often sobering but some of them, such as Katie Moynihan’s heart-wrenching account of her experiences working in Uganda, need to be told. Along with the author, we hope that some of the human stories behind Uganda’s slow progress towards reducing maternal and child mortality will raise awareness of the country’s dire shortage of basic hospital facilities, and the very small amount of money that would be required to provide relief: much less than the average Australian spends on the Melbourne Cup!

Our great thanks to all who entered this year’s competition. We know there are more stories and pictures out there and look forward to your future entries as you feel spurred on to take up the challenge and bolt to the finish line next year, for a chance to win not a cup but a basket (of goodies) for your Christmas table.