Hyaluronic acid. Say it with End Game. Hyaluronic acid. We love the stuff! It’s easily our favourite kind of acid.

Known simply as HA to its pals, hyaluronic acid is sometimes marketed as the “fountain of youth” because it is good for the joints and revitalises the skin. We’ve been a fan for 70 or 80 years, though you wouldn’t believe it to look at us.

So imagine our delight when we received a press release informing us that we could win an award for indulging our passion. First prize is €1,500.

The “Institut Biochimique SA” are funding a prize for journalistic pieces about hyaluronic acid. As all hyaluronic acid enthusiasts know, IBSA make Sinovial, a hyaluronic acid based treatment for injecting into the knee to ease arthritic pain. Great stuff, we use it every day.

Anyway, another brilliant thing about IBSA’s prize is its generous submissions deadline of July 31, meaning that the award-winning entry needn’t have been written yet.

To those cynics who suggest that IBSA are in effect dangling a wad of cash in the faces of cash-strapped journos to persuade them to write boring puff pieces about a chemical they make money out of, End Game says: Humbug! We would have written about hyaluronic acid whatever happened, and you people just don’t understand our infatuation.

Surely this very piece would be just the job? We’re happy to be of service IBSA, and to claim our 1,500 euros.