Every year the British and Irish Dental Editors and Writers Forum (BIDEWF) presents awards to two graduate and one undergraduate ‘new communicators'. The awards are sponsored by the British Dental Industry Association (BDIA).

This year the awards in the graduate category were both won by new communicators who had published articles in BDJ Portfolio publications.

Rebecca Silver won the first prize of £500 for her article ‘Hierarchy in dentistry: A dental nurse perspective',1 published in BDJ Team in January 2025. Rachel Sladden won the second price for her article ‘What impact could artificial intelligence have on oral surgery in the next five years?',2 which was published in BDJ in Practice.

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Rebecca Silver receiving her award certificate from Professor Kenneth Eaton (left, Chair of the BIDEWF) and Edmund Proffitt (right, CEO of the BDIA)

Rebecca is a dental nurse who works in London and has recently completed an MSc at the University of Kent. At the time of her publication in BDJ In Practice in Practice Rachel, who is a dentist, was working as a Specialty Dentist in Paediatric Dentistry in Bristol. However, she has recently migrated to New Zealand and was unable to attend the awards presentation.

The prize for undergraduates was won by Jennifer Rae, who at the time her article ‘An insight into Childsmile – the preventive programme improving the oral health of children in Scotland' was published in Dental Health, was in her final year studying Oral Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

The presentation of the awards took place in London on the evening of 28 October at the Royal Air Force Club and was followed by the BDIEWF annual dinner.

BDJ Team extends huge congratulations to Rebecca, who has written for us many times! Rebecca's winning BDJ Team article has been accessed over 3,000 times since January. To read it, visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41407-025-2856-7.