2011 Hippocrates Prize

BBC Radio 4’s Mark Lawson joins panel of judges for Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine 2011

Writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson has been named as the final judge for this year’s international competition for poetry and medicine, the 2011 Hippocrates Prize – one of the highest value poetry awards in the world for a single poem.

The BBC Radio 4 Front Row presenter joins Wales’ first national poet Gwyneth Lewis and Chairman of the National Health Inclusion Board Professor Steve Field CBE on the distinguished judging panel.

This is the second year that the Prize has taken place, organised by a joint team from the University of Warwick’s Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies and the University’s Medical School.

Organisers Professor Donald Singer, from Warwick Medical School, and Michael Hulse, from the University’s English and Comparative Literary Studies department, said:
“We are delighted that Mark Lawson has agreed to join Welsh National Poet Gwyneth Lewis and leading GP Professor Steve Field CBE to judge the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine.”

There is a £15,000 award fund for the prizes, which will be given in an ‘open’ category, which anyone can enter, and in an ‘NHS’ category which is open to National Health Service employees, health students and those working in professional organisations involved in education and training of NHS students and staff.

With a 1st prize for the winning poem in each category of £5,000, the Hippocrates prize offers one of the most lucrative prize pots for a single poem.

And one poet, who started her publishing career early, is keen to inspire other young wordsmiths to get involved in the Hippocrates Prize.
Clare Pollard said:
“Having my poetry published when I was sixteen altered my life. It made me believe I could actually be a writer, and vow to work as hard as I could to make it happen.
“The great thing about poetry is that age doesn't matter. It's hard as a teenager to find the time and stamina to write a perfect novel, but you can write three perfect verses. If you put down the things you really want to say about our world, in your own voice, you will have written a powerful poem.”

The closing date for the 2011 Hippocrates Prize is 31st January 2011. The Awards will be announced at an International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine on 7th May 2011. All winning and commended poems will be published in a further Anthology of 46 poems.

The inaugural 2010 Hippocrates Prize attracted more than 1,600 entries from 31 countries. The winner in the ‘open’ category for 2010 was New Zealand poet CK Stead and in the ‘NHS’ category Wendy French, who facilitates creative writing for NHS professionals.

For details of how to enter the 2011 Prize, and for the Anthology and podcasts related to the inaugural 2010 Prize, visit http://www.hippocrates-poetry.org/