![2013 Hippocrates Winners announced]()
2013 Hippocrates Winners announced
The £5000 open international Hippocrates first prize has been
awarded to Harvard poet and physician Rafael Campo. The second
prize was shared by UK poet Matthew Barton, US Afghan war veteran
Liam Corley from California and New Zealand poet Sue Wootton.
See links for results of the Hippocrates NHS Awards and Young
Poets Award.
Harvard poet and physician
Rafael Campo wins Hippocrates Open International Prize for Poetry
and Medicine
Psychotherapist Mary V Williams wins
Hippocrates NHS Prize for Poetry and Medicine
English poet Rosalind Jana awarded
international Hippocrates Young Poets Prize for Poetry and
Medicine
Rafael Campo, who travelled from the USA to accept his award, said
"I am delighted to receive this prestigious international prize.
Through my poem - about a dying patient - I was able to address the
power of empathy to combat the distance we almost reflexively adopt
toward our patients and confront our own shortcomings".
The Hippocrates Prize is one of the most valuable poetry prizes in
the world, with a yearly purse of £15000.
The winners were announced at an International Symposium on Poetry
and Medicine at the Wellcome Rooms in London on Saturday 18th May
by the judges, poet Jo Shapcott, medical writer and psychiatrist
Theodore Dalrymple and Roger Highfield, Director of External
Affairs at the Science Museum Grooup.
The judges also agreed 20 commendations in the Open International
category - one each from Ireland, Scotland and Israel, seven
from the USA and 10 from England, from the Isle of Wight to
Yorkshire.
Judge Jo Shapcott said: 'The Hippocrates Prize, since its
inception in 2009, has quickly established itself as one of the
most important international prizes for poetry as well as providing
a unique place for poetry and medicine to meet. Its
international reach is reflected in this years prizewinners who
come from countries all round the globe, including New Zealand, the
USA, Ireland, and Israel."
She added: "You might imagine that poetry on medical themes would
be sad, even grim reading, but far from it. There was a
lively range of subjects and perspectives in this year's batch, and
the judges were lucky enough to be debating the merits of some
outstanding poems which have in common their sheer brio, skill, and
passion, and often an exhilarating deftness in deploying medical
language so that it sings."
Judge Roger Highfield commented 'The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry
and Medicine works brilliantly because medicine is where science
collides with life. Again and again I found myself transported in
mind and spirit to unfamiliar situations where I encountered the
memories, experiences and inner emotional worlds of others. I found
it enthralling and, at times, disturbing, a powerful reminder of
the mysterious way that a few words can herd our thoughts and
emotions.'
Judge Theodore Dalrymple remarked "As the Hippocrates Prize once
again demonstrates, health care is a fertile source of poetic
inspiration. All the poems arise from the need to communicate a
deep human experience, and succeed in doing so."
Donald Singer, Hippocrates Prize co-founder and President of the
Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, the major patron of the
Hippocrates Initiative said "The FPM is delighted with the
increasing success of the Hippocrates Open Awards in reaching out
globally to poets, health professionals and the public.
"This year's winner Rafael Campo eloquently shows the power of
poetry to help both health professionals and patients to engage
with and learn from each other under the most testing of medical
and personal challenges".
Hippocrates Prize co-founder poet Michael Hulse added: "We are
delighted that the Hippocrates Open Prize continues to achieve a
major international impact in inspiring and engaging poets of the
highest quality in the interface between life, poetry and
medicine."
The awards symposium considered themes including poetry as therapy
to help in recovery from stroke, poetry in health professional
training, the impact of illness on the poet, and the history of
poetry and medicine.
Speakers for the awards symposium came from the USA, UK, Spain and
Switzerland.
The Hippocrates Initiative - winner of the 2011 Times Higher
Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in the Arts - is an
interdisciplinary venture that investigates the synergy between
medicine, the arts, and health.
See more