The International Balint Federation Ascona Prize

The Ascona Prize is a long-standing reflective essay competition about the student-patient relationship. It is run by the International Balint Federation (IBF).

Winners are offered subsidised travel to read their essays at the International Balint Federation (IBF) Congress which is held every two years.

In 2024, the prize was jointly won by Dikshya Parajuli from Auckland University who attended the 2024 IBF Congress in Boulder, Colorado.

In 2022, Thomas Swinburn, also from Auckland University, was a joint winner and he attended the 2022 IBF Congress in Brussels.

Previous winners from Australia and New Zealand include Beth Hamilton from Griffith University (2017) who attended the 2017 IBF Congress in Oxford.

Read Beth Hamilton’s report about the 2017 Oxford Congress.