Winners of the Open, NHS and Young Poets 2013 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine

The winners were announced by the judges at an International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine at the Wellcome Rooms in London on Saturday 18th May.

More on the 2013 Hippocrates Awards:

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 discusses poetry, medicine and his Hippocrates Open Award winning poem

Rosalind Jana talking about her Hippocrates Young Poets Award.

The judges also agreed 18 commendations in the NHS category - one each from Scotland and Wales, and 16 from England; and 20 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.

Open Awards

The £5000 open international Hippocrates first prize has been awarded to Harvard poet and physician

Rafael Campo

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.

Rafael Campo 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”.


NHS Awards

The £5000 Hippocrates NHS first prize went to poet and novelist Mary V Williams from Shropshire,

Mary V Williams

who trained in psychotherapy.

The second prize went to former nurse Ann Elisabeth Gray who runs a care home Cornwall and the third prize was shared by family doctor Ann Lilian Jay from LLandysul in Wales, hospital chaplain Ian McDowell from London, and senior lecturer in midwifery Bella Madden from Milton Keynes.

Mary Williams said “My poem ‘Downs’ was inspired by my working in a pre-school nursery for special needs children, by their need for love and acceptance, and their ability to give back so much in return”.

The Hippocrates Prize is one of the most valuable poetry prizes in the world, with a yearly purse of £15000.


Young Poets Award

English poet Rosalind Jana has been awarded the inaugural international Hippocrates Young Poets

Rosalind Jana

£500 Prize. 17 year old Rosalind Jana is from Hereford Sixth Form College in England. The award was presented at the Hippocrates Awards ceremony at the Wellcome Trust in London on Saturday 18th May.

The international Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets is for an unpublished poem in English on a medical theme. Entries were invited from young poets anywhere in the world aged 14 to 18 years. The 2013 Prize attracted entries from young poets from the UK, USA and Australia.

The winning entry was decided by judge and award-winning poet Clare Pollard who also commended US poet Talin Tahajian from Belmont in Massachusetts.

Notes to editors

For more information about Hippocrates Prize winners and extracts of their winning poems, contact hippocrates.poetry@gmail.com

Hippocrates Prize website