This will be the seventh year of the Communication Award, which is organised in association with the Medical Royal Colleges and the Patients Association. The aim of the award is to enhance mutual understanding between patients and health care professionals, and should describe work which could be widely adopted for the benefit of patients. There is a prize of £10 000 to the winning entry. The closing date for the full submission is mid-July 2000. The criteria must show an improvement in one of the following areas: doctor-patient communication; communication between doctors and the general public; communication skills of individual doctors as a result of the project; methods of transferring information between doctors and patients; and in-patient systems. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has won the prize two years running and a glass bowl is displayed on the main staircase of the College. For further information about the award please contact: Lady Nourse, 12 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3TX. (tel: 0171 404 0809; e-mail: Idnour@dircon.co.uk ).