This post is particularly aimed at those of you who are thinking about
entering the Access to Understanding competition who have never entered a
science writing competition before.

Access to Understanding is the perfect first-time competition to enter.
Unlike most other science-writing competitions, you don’t need to struggle for
inspiration for an interesting subject to write about – 10 fascinating papers
are provided for you to interpret, so you can concentrate on the nitty-gritty
of making their story sparkle.

(There’s plenty of advice online about how to get that summary
sparkling. My advice? Don’t get too hung up on following it. Be original!)

Source: Shutterstock Copyright: GrandeDuc

But why should you enter? What’s in it for you?

The obvious answer is an iPad and the ability to go around for a year
introducing yourself as officially the best plain English summary writer in the world.
However, that’s only the start of the prizes.

For me, the greatest prize was the confidence to keep on writing. Before
last year, I’d never written a plain English summary before, let alone entered any
writing competitions. When I won, suddenly my vague career plan of ‘something
where I get to tell people about science’ became a serious possibility. If you’re
not planning on leaving research, it’s pretty satisfying to know your next
funding application is going to include a knock-out plain English summary.



Source: Shutterstock Copyright: Genialbaron

So where did that confidence lead me? Well, I entered two more science
writing competitions. In one of them, my entry sunk without trace, but I was
shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize (where I ran into a
couple of familiar faces from Access to Understanding at the awards ceremony). Now,
I’m finishing up my PhD so I can start my new job as an Assistant Features
Editor in a couple of months.

So even if you’ve never written anything like this before,
give it a go – those prizes are well worth winning. Have fun writing and good
luck!

This post is by Emma Pewsey, winner of Access to Understanding 2013. You can read her winning entry, ‘Hip, Hip, Hooray!’ here.