CDHA/CJDH Student Writing Competition
Congratulations to our 2025 winners:
- Amanda Acker, George Brown College (best essay), “Exploring institutional factors on billing practices of dental hygienist in Canada”
- Lina Al-Baghdadi, University of Alberta (best literature review), “Teledentistry models led by dental hygienists in underserved communities: a literature review”
Because of the very high calibre of the entries received this year, we have also given honourable mentions to Lois Hanbury (George Brown College) in the essay category and Kristen Apothecary (University of British Columbia) in the literature review category.
Amanda’s winning essay will be published in the November 2025 issue of Oh Canada! Lina’s winning literature review will be published in the October 2025 issue of the Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene.
Enter our student writing competition, proudly sponsored by Philips Sonicare, and nourish the budding author in you! There are two award categories available—best essay (opinion piece) and best literature (narrative) review.
Two Award Categories • Two Winners
- $1,500 cash prizes PLUS
- PHILIPS Sonicare power toothbrushes
- Essay publication in Oh Canada!
- Literature review publication in the Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene
Follow these easy steps:
- Review the competition criteria for your chosen writing category: essay or literature review
- Select a topic that falls under one of CDHA’s research agenda categories
- Compose your essay or literature review (or choose something that you wrote for course credit in 2025–2026)
- Submit your work to your program director for endorsement
- Once endorsed by your program director, submit your work with the completed nomination form to CJDH’s scientific editor
Submission deadline: June 1, 2026
Past award winners
- 2024 (best essay): Emily-Marie Roberts (George Brown College) Read her winning entry
- 2024 (best literature review): Zihui (Eunice) Liu (Dalhousie University) Read her winning entry
- 2023 (best essay): Leah Davies (Georgian College) Read her winning entry
- 2023 (best literature review): Sarah Hornby (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2022 (best essay): Jessie Yang (Dalhousie University) Read her winning entry
- 2022 (best literature review): Jessica Tamrat (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2021: Amanda McKay (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2020: Mystica Lopez de Leon (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2019: Ashley Chicote (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2018: Alison Ashworth (University of British Columbia) Read her winning entry
- 2017: Hazel Joyce Manlapaz (University of Manitoba) Read her winning entry