The 16th Annual Gerald F. Berlin Prizes for Creative Writing award ceremony and readings will be conducted via Zoom on Wednesday, May 20, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The prizes are awarded for creative writing, prose and poetry by medical, nursing and doctoral students, residents and fellows at UMass Medical School, Berkshire Medical Center, Worcester Medical Center/St. Vincent's Hospital and Baystate Medical Center.
The awards are sponsored by the Humanities in Medicine Committee of the Lamar Soutter Library with funding from Richard M. Berlin, MD, instructor in psychiatry. Dr. Berlin, a widely published poet and practicing psychiatrist, established the award to encourage creative writing among those studying medicine 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 Peyton Morss, SOM ’21, will receives a cash award of $100 and publication in Worcester Medicine, The Berkshire Medical Journal and Streams of Consciousness. Second prize winner Cesar Rodriguez, MD, SOM ’20, and third prize winner Bennett Vogt, SOM ’23, will also have their pieces published in Streams of Consciousness.
Created as a School of Medicine Capstone project, Streams of Consciousness is an online publication that allows students, residents, faculty and other members of the UMass Medical School community to channel their experiences through works of poetry, prose and photography.
David Hatem, MD, professor of medicine and co-chair of the Humanities in Medicine Committee, will serve as master of ceremonies. Berlin will introduce the awards’ genesis and history, followed by the seven awardees reading excerpts from their work.
All members of the UMMS and UMass Memorial community are invited to attend. Email regina.raboin@umassmed.edu to receive a Zoom invite to attend.
Visit Berlin’s website to learn more about the Gerald F. Berlin Creative Writing Awards and read the work of previous winners.
This year’s Gerald F. Berlin Prize recipients are:
First Place: Peyton Morss, SOM ’21 for Little Brown Bird
Second place: Cesar Rodriguez, MD, SOM ’20 for Mijo
Third place: Bennett Vogt, SOM ’23 for Lugar Sagrado
Honorable mentions:
Elham Ahmadi, PhD, postdoc in Finberg lab, for Heroism Untitled
Naideline Raymond, GSBS PhD candidate, for Untitled
Lauren Colwell, MD, SOM ’20, for Under the Negev Sky and The Prayer of a Third Year Clerk
Hillary Mullan, MD, SOM 20, for Physician and Doctor
