The John Conley Ethics Essay Contest is an annual essay competition organized by the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. The contest is open to medical students, residents, and fellows in accredited U.S. medical schools and graduate programs in medical education. The essay prompt for the contest changes each year, but it always involves an ethical dilemma in medicine or healthcare. Essays are judged based on the clarity of the ethical issue, the quality of the analysis and reasoning, the relevance of the issue to healthcare, and the overall quality of writing.
The contest is named after John Conley, a physician and ethicist who was instrumental in the development of the field of medical ethics in the United States. Conley was a founding member of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute, and served as its president from 1984 to 1996.
The John Conley Ethics Essay Contest is a prestigious competition that provides medical students, residents, and fellows with an opportunity to explore important ethical issues in medicine and healthcare. Winning essays are published in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics and the authors receive a cash prize.