The Veterinary Health Student Essay Contest  

Founded in 1994, The Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics (SVME) seeks to promote thoughtful and respectful public discussion on ethical issues arising in, and relevant to, the practice of veterinary medicine. In that effort, the SVME has long recognized the importance of student participation and development in the field of veterinary ethics, and so, it has been pleased to host an annual student essay contest.

The Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, a division of Mars Petcare, has graciously sponsored the SVME essay contest since 2006. Waltham will be offering for the GRAND PRIZE (Alice Villalobos Student Essay Award) a $1,000.00 cash award and another $1,000.00 for travel expenses for the GRAND PRIZE winner to attend the an SVME Event.  The winning essay will also be posted on the SVME website.  We at SVME take this opportunity to thank Mars Veterinary Health, Waltham and, in particular, Dr. Karyl J. Hurley, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA of Mars Petcare Global Scientific Affairs for their continued support of the student essay contest.

Winning essay and other essays of significant merit will be posted on the SVME web site. 

Contest Eligibility

The Alice Villalobos Student Essay Contest is open to any student enrolled at an institution of higher learning (post-secondary) at the time of essay submission.

General Essay Requirements

1) Essay must be an original work of the student that addresses the assigned topic.

2) Essay must be composed in Times New Roman font using the #12 font size, double-spaced, and with 1-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right).

3) Essay must include a title page that includes identifying information (student name, school, degree program, date of submission, and student email address). All other pages must be free of content that might indicate the author’s identity or institutional affiliation.

4) Not including the title page or endnotes, essay will not exceed 3,000 words in length. Beginning with the first page of text, pages should be numbered sequentially with the page number placed at the top right corner.

5) Essay must be composed in English with attention given to proper spelling, grammar and syntax.

6) A quality essay will critically engage the ideas, viewpoints, and investigations of others who have published on the subject. Quotations and unique facts must be documented using endnotes formatted according to the style used in The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

7) Essay must be delivered via email attachment as an Adobe ‘pdf’ document to Contest Administration via info@svme.org. Use the following title in the subject line of the email: “last name, first name: SVME Essay Contest”

Criteria for Selection

Essays are primarily evaluated using the following criteria:

1) Students should develop a position (pro or con) on the question posed in the Topic (see above) through sound and compelling arguments.

2) Essays should evidence research of the topic and an awareness of opposing views.

3) Length of essay, style, clarity, organization, coherence

4) Formatting, spelling, grammar and punctuation

Awards *

All entries meeting eligibility requirements stated above compete for the GRAND PRIZE (The “Alice Villalobos Student Essay Award”), which consists of a certificate of recognition, a cash prize of $1,000.00 (US), posting of the winning essay on the SVME website, and $1,000.00 (US) maximum stipend for travel expenses to attend an SVME event, where a presentation of the winning essay will occur. 

Honorable Mention Essays: SVME may also recognize and post on its website non-winning essays of notable merit. No cash prize is awarded Honorable Mention essays.

* Either award may bypass if submitted entries are judged to be of insufficient merit.

Contact Information

Direct correspondence to Contest Administration: SVME Student Essay Committee via email at info@svme.org