This paper describes a student essay competition with the title "What makes a good engineering lecturer?" run by the Engineering Subject Centre of the UK Higher Education Academy. The competition was intended primarily to provide engineering lecturers with general feedback. The aim of the paper is to make the outcomes of the competition available in a convenient form to those who might be interested--particularly engineering lecturers. The paper describes the competition, sets out the approach used to analyse the essays, presents the content in terms of the main attributes identified, and compares these with published lists of recommended attributes. The paper lets the students speak for themselves through extensive quotation. (Contains 1 table.)