The 17th Annual Gerald F. Berlin Prizes for Creative Writing award ceremony and readings will be conducted via Zoom on Wednesday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. The prizes are awarded for creative writing, prose and poetry by UMass Medical School students, residents, postdoctoral associates and fellows.
The awards are sponsored by the Humanities in Medicine Committee of the Lamar Soutter Library and funded by a donation from published poet Richard M. Berlin, MD, instructor in psychiatry.
First place winner Jesse Sardell, SOM ’24, will receive $100 and his piece will be published in Worcester Medicine, The Berkshire Medical Journal and Streams of Consciousness. Second prize winner Chris Yan, MD, MPH, and third prize winner Amanda Hazeltine, MS, RN, will also have their pieces published in Streams of Consciousness.
Created as a School of Medicine Capstone project, Streams of Consciousness is a student-led journal through which students, residents, faculty and other members of the UMass Medical School community process and share their experiences through writing and photography.
David Hatem, MD, professor of medicine and co-chair of the Humanities in Medicine Committee, will serve as master of ceremonies. Dr. Berlin will introduce the awards’ genesis and history, followed by awardees reading excerpts from their work.
Attendees can join this year’s event at https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/97181779835?pwd=VWh0UGhHbW1BRjAzanJvRlhSWkNRZz09; preregistration is not required.
2021 Gerald F. Berlin Prize recipients
First Place: Jesse Sardell, SOM ’24, for Paper Cranes
Second place: Chris Yan, MD, MPH, pulmonary/critical care fellow, for Love in the Time of COVID
Third place: Amanda Hazeltine, MS, RN, DNP candidate in the GSN, for The Power of Presence
Honorable mention
Deniz Cataltepe, SOM ’22, for Can You Tell Us Your Name?
Anshuman Singh, PhD, postdoc in the Sena-Esteves lab, for In love for friendship
Andrew Kamilaris, MD, emergency medicine resident, for Final Gifts
Sandy Chan, MD, internal medicine resident, for I Never Needed It To Be Quiet
Emilee Herringshaw, SOM ’23, for Evolution of the Clinical Mindset
Kasturi Biswas, PhD candidate in the GSBS, for In Search of My Wild Goose
Xinmiao (Bridget) Yang, SOM ’22, for Tensions between stone and river
