The Gerald F. Berlin Prize is awarded for creative writing, prose or poetry, authored by UMass medical students, nursing students, graduate students, residents, and fellows based at UMass Medical School, Berkshire Medical Center, Worcester Medical Center/St. Vincent's or Baystate Medical Center.

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2019.

The Grand prize is $100, a reading at an Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 12:00-1:30 PM, and publication in Worcester Medicine, The Berkshire Medical Journal, and Streams of Consciousness. The second and third prize winners will also have their work published in Streams of Consciousness*.

Venue to be determined

A panel of three judges will review the submissions.

Guidelines for Authors: 

Prose (short fiction or reflective essays):

• 12 pt., Double-spaced
• Judging will be "blind" to author information. Please include a separate cover page for the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address and title.  This information should appear ONLY on a separate cover page.
• Not to exceed 2,000 words; number all pages

Poetry:

• Up to 3 poems in any style
• Judging will be "blind" to author information.  Please include a separate cover page for the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address and title.  This information should appear ONLY on a separate cover page.
• Not to exceed 6 pages for the entire submission; please number all pages

~ Be sure to disguise any patient details to protect confidentiality ~

Submit entries in electronic format by March 1, 2019 via e-mail to: Regina.Raboin@umassmed.edu

For more information about the Award, including the work of previous winners, please visit www.richardmberlin.com and go to the Gerald F. Berlin Creative Writing Award section of the website.

*Originally conceptualized as a UMass Medical School Capstone project, Streams of Consciousness is a collaborative project between Tom Ford (SOM ’18), William Bernard Reid-Varley (PGY-2, Psychiatry), and Colin Whitworth (PGY-2, Psychiatry), with journal platform and architecture guidance from Lisa Palmer, Institutional Repository librarian, Lamar Soutter Library, that aims to allow students in the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Nursing, and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, as well as residents, faculty, and other members of the UMass Medical School community to channel their experiences through works of poetry, prose, and photography. http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/soc