Pusterla Digital Media Award for Medical Students

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The Pusterla Digital Media Award celebrates outstanding digital images and short videos that explore ethical questions in health, medicine, or illness. Open to all medical students in Switzerland, it offers a chance to raise awareness of ethical dimensions, reflect creatively, and share your perspective with a wider audience.

The Centre for Medical Humanities (CMH) at the University of Zurich, together with the Swiss Medical Students’ Association (swimsa), has created this award to explore ethics through art and to inspire fresh perspectives.

• 1st Place: 1,000 CHF | 2nd Place: 500 CHF | 3rd Place: 300 CHF
• Audience Favourite Award: 300 CHF (vote at the Pusterla Awards Night 2025)
• Outstanding submissions will be showcased at the Pusterla Awards Night 2025, at the IBME offices, and on IBME and swimsa social media.

• One submission per participant: an image (or series of images) or a video (max 20 seconds).
• AI-generated work is allowed if it shows significant personal input. Include details of tools used (e.g., Midjourney, Copilot, OpenAI) and your creative process (prompt, tool, date, etc.).
• Formats: JPEG, PNG, TIFF (images); MP4, MOV (videos); min. 1080px; max 200 MB.
• Optional: short statement (max 100 words in English, German, French or Italian) explaining the concept or ethical reflection.
• No copyrighted material.
• Submit your entry via email to pusterla@ibme.uzh.ch, including your name, institution, and the title of your work in the subject line. If you are submitting a video, please upload it to wetransfer.com and share a link that expires in 30 days.

• Dr med Afreed Ashraf, Swissmedtalk
• Dr med Willi Balandies, Swissmedtalk
• Prof Nikola Biller-Andorno, Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich
• Prof Johanna Sommer, Institute of Family and Childhood Medicine, University of Geneva
• Prof Oliver Ullrich, Space Hub, University of Zurich

• A pre-selection committee with expertise in ethics and medicine (2 members from the CMH and 2 members from swimsa) will review all entries and shortlist up to 20 submissions.
• The jury will then deliberate on the shortlisted submissions.
• The judging is anonymous (participants’ identities will not be disclosed during evaluation).
• The jury’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following:

• Ethical Reflection (0 to 5 points): Does the work explore an ethical issue in health, medicine, or illness?
• Concept (0 to 5 points): Is the idea clear, thoughtful and relevant?
• Visual Impact (0 to 5 points): Does the work encourage discussion or leave a lasting impres-sion?

• Participants retain full copyright of their work.
• By submitting an entry, participants grant the organisers a non-exclusive licence to display and promote the image for award-related  and academic-related purposes.

• Call opens: 17 September 2025
• Submission deadline: 5 October 2025
• Shortlist: 14 October 2025
• Jury deliberation: 14–24 October 2025
• Winner announcement: 25 October 2025, 19:30, at the Pusterla Awards Night 2025 – Annual Event Center for Medical Humanities (Apéro Riche). Up to 40 vouchers (CHF 80 each) for The Alehouse will be given to students who attend and vote (student ID required). Vouchers sent via email after the event.

Questions? Email Dr sc med Tania Manríquez