The 14th Annual Gerald F. Berlin Prize for Creative Writing Award Ceremony and Readings will take place at UMass Medical School on Wednesday, Apr. 25. The Gerald F. Berlin Prizes are awarded for creative writing, prose and poetry by UMMS medical, nursing and doctoral students, residents and fellows.
The awards are sponsored by the Humanities in Medicine Committee of the Lamar Soutter Library and Richard Berlin, MD. Dr. Berlin, senior affiliate in psychiatry and a widely published poet and practicing psychiatrist, established the prizes to encourage creative writing among UMMS students and residents, and to honor his father who struggled with a severe chronic illness.
“Creative writing gives health professionals in training a special opportunity to reflect on their experiences, to maintain their humanity and to heighten their empathy for the suffering of their patients,” Berlin said. “These are qualities that bring doctors closer to their patients, and I know these are the qualities my father always looked for and admired in his own physicians.”
First place winner Laurel O’Connor, MD, receives $100, and publication of her piece in Worcester Medicine, The Berkshire Medical Journal, and Streams of Consciousness. The second prize winner Christine Motzkus and third prize winner Shivkumar Bhadola will also have their work published in Streams of Consciousness. (See full list of award winners below.)
Created as a School of Medicine Capstone project, Streams of Consciousness is an online publication that allow students, residents, faculty and other members of the UMass Medical School community to channel their experiences through works of poetry, prose and photography.
Winning writers will read excerpts from their work at the award ceremony, which takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Albert Sherman Center Auditorium. Dessert will be available outside the auditorium following the formal program.
This year’s Gerald F. Berlin Prize recipients are:
First Place: Laurel O’Connor, MD (emergency medicine resident), for The Bracelet
Second Place: Christine Motzkus, MD/PhD candidate and SOM ’19, for Humanity in the Bays
Third Place: Shivkumar Bhadola, SOM ’19, for 4:44
Honorable Mentions:
Kathryn Czepiel, SOM ’18, for Uric Acid
Michelle Silver, SOM ’19, for Uncle Bob
Tiffany Chen, SOM ’19, for Kathy
Abhinav Gupta, SOM ’19, for What’s Next
Peyton Morss, SOM ’20, for Becoming a Doctor
William Coughlin, SOM ’21, for My Love is Like the Early Days of Spring
Kelsey Jones, SOM ’21, for Time Banking
