Papers with Purpose, a project led by the Writing Lab in the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), has scooped the University of Oxford’s (Oxford) Research Culture Award. The award-winning project was recognised for its impact on early-career researchers who work in the field of health professions education across Southern Africa. The idea is to use the project as a springboard to support research literacy development and publication within the field of health professions education. Gathering participants for the conference also created an opportunity for an intensive two-day writing workshop to kick-start participants’ writing process. Following the conference and workshop, participants attended monthly webinars focused on different aspects of research writing and also had the opportunity to attend weekly online writing sessions.