Battle of the Surgical Societies Prize (BotSS) 2024

19/01/2024

Deadline: 23:59 11th February 2024

Prize: £500 event grant

ASiT’s Battle of the Surgical Societies Prize is back for 2024, and we want you to take part! Battle of the Surgical Societies is a national competition between all the Surgical Societies in the UK and ROI where societies get the chance to submit an event proposal for an initiative they’d like to run! With a total funding prize of £500 up for grabs, this is an incredible opportunity to get the chance to bring your event ideas to life!

We’ve had over 30 societies compete in previous years, and the competition is always a huge success so don’t miss out on your chance to participate.

What else may I gain? 

The Top 5 proposals will be invited to deliver an oral presentation of their ideas at our upcoming ASiT 2024 Conference in Bournemouth, where you will get the chance to compete live on stage in front of our judging panel as we crown this year’s Battle of the Surgical Societies winner.

Eligibility 

• Submitting applicant must be an ASiT member
• The event must be free of charge or heavily discounted for ASiT members
• Only 1 entry per Surgical Society from each medical school 

We invite applications from all surgically-themed societies as we appreciate that some medical schools may have e.g. a Plastic Surgery Society, a Women in Surgery Society, etc. That said, to ensure equal opportunities for students from all medical schools, only a maximum of 1 society would be chosen from any medical school

Event must be organised by 31^st October 2024

If you have any more questions about the prize, do not hesitant to get in touch at thevirajshah@outlook.com!

How to Apply

Please submit the following documents:

• A proposal (maximum 500 words) for an event your Surgical Society would like to organise in your region. Please send this to info@asit.org AND our ASiT Medical Student Representative, Viraj Shah (thevirajshah@outlook.com) with the subject ‘Battle of the Surgical Societies 2024 Entry’. Although there is no prescribed template for the proposal, you may want to describe attendee benefits, contribution to surgical training priorities, a potential speaker lineup, plan on how you’d use the funding and how you plan to execute your event! All applications must enclose a planned timeline for organisation of the event, and when key milestones will be hit. You should receive a confirmation email of your application within 72 hours of submission. 
• A background (max. 500 words) of your society. Please describe the events your society has organised in the past, and how they may reflect that your society would have the capacity (e.g. manpower, wider support network, etc) to run your proposed event. If the event were to be organised in the new academic year (i.e. from August 2024 onwards), please explain how the event will be organised given potential changes in the committee and/or outgoing committee members who may be graduating. The purpose of this section of the application is to understand your society’s background better and to allow the reviewers to contextualise the marking of the event proposal. This section of the application will not be scored.
• A signed letter of support from a guarantor/ patron/ trustee of your society. The guarantor/ trustee may be a medical school dean, consultant or professor (or an individual in a senior position). They should be aware of your society’s plans for the proposed event. Please ensure their email contact is included in the letter.

Let the best Surgical Society win!