The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine is an annual international award for an unpublished poem on a medical subject. Poems must be no more than 50 lines in length and not have previously been published in any form. They must be by a living poet, written in English and should not be translations of another writer’s work. There is no limit to the number of entries.
Poems should be entered online and must be accompanied by payment of £6 for each poem entered, by secure online payment.
Poems are in 3 categories:
1. Open Prize: open to any entrant
2. Health Professionals Prize: open to health professionals and health students from all disciplines.
3. Young Poets Prize: for entrants aged 14-18.
The prize money for the Open and Health Professional Categories is:
1st: £1000
2nd: £500
3rd: £250
For the Young Poets category, the first place poem will receive £250.
Entries must be received by 14 February at midnight in the timezone of the applicant.
The decision of the judges is final.
Short-listed poets in all categories of the Hippocrates Prize will be informed by mid-April.
Results will be announced via an online Prize Ceremony in May 2025. Winning poems will be published in an anthology of winning poems.
Copyright remains with the authors, but the Hippocrates Prize organizers reserve the right of publication, both online and in a prizewinners’ and other anthologies and publications of the Hippocrates Initiative.