Are You Cut Out For It? Surgical Skills Competition
Boost your CV and enter our national competition!
Would you like to take part in a creative competition that encompasses fun and competition as tools for learning? A competition that is free to join with the opportunity to win a cash prize and set your CV apart at ST3 application level? Our Surgical Skills Competition gives you just that. Are You Cut Out For It? is our national Surgical Skills Competition for Core Trainees (CT2s) who are members or affiliate members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 
Competitors
Trainees compete in pairs for a chance to win the prestigious Louis Solomon Knights Award for Surgical Skills and a cash prize. Competitors must be in their second year of core training and members or affiliate members of RCS England. If you would like to compete and you are not already a member, please join now.
Although CT1 trainees cannot compete, they can participate by organising their local heat. Certificates for attending, winning and running this competition are approved by RCS England and will be sure to set you apart from your peers.
Winners from each heat will be entered into the final, where they will go head to head with the top competing pairs from the other regions.
Shreyas Supparamaniam and Larne Jones-Whiting, 2024-25 winners
Alongside Patrick Wilkins and Valerie Wilkins, generous sponsors of the competition from the Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table.
“It was a great day, really enjoyable. Everyone was super helpful and it was a wonderful learning opportunity. The competition was organised and the stations were more sophisticated than I thought they would be, it was great to meet some of the core trainees from around the country.”
Shreyas Supparamaniam and Larne Jones-Whiting, 2024-25 winners
Regional Heats 2025–26
The heats will be held in person regionally from October 2025 to February 2026. The tasks will aim to assess your surgical skills as well as your knowledge and application of surgical principles. If you would like to volunteer as an organiser for your regional heat, please do contact us. The winners of the local competitions will go on to compete in the national final at the College in London.
If you are interested in organising your School of Surgery heats and are in the East of England, South England, London, or Wales, please contact OutreachSouth@rcseng.ac.uk.
Support
RCS England will offer support to everyone interested in assisting with hosting a regional heat for Are You Cut Out For It? including:
- matching up volunteers from within the same region;
- providing a guide for how to organise a regional heat;
- providing template documents (guidance for competitors, invitation letters, mark schemes, thank you letters);
- central promotion for regional heats on the RCS England website and social media.
RCS England may be able to provide some equipment for the skills competition heat. We will also provide all organisers with formal thank you letters for your portfolios.
Volunteer as a judge at our 2025–26 final
We are looking for consultant surgeons to act as judges at the competition final. If you are interested in volunteering then please contact OutreachSouth@rcseng.ac.uk.
Generously supported by:
