Mehta Award Call for Submissions; Deadline Nov. 12
| UAMS is pleased to announce that it is time for submissions to the annual UAMS Drs. Paulette and Jay Mehta Award in Creative Writing.
Writing — whether narrative or poetry — is a fundamental part of human communication, allowing writers to gain and express their perspectives, visions and insights while contributing to and affecting a reader’s knowledge, feelings and worldview. Many health care professionals have found deep insight and solace in writing, and some of Western culture’s great creative writers were health care professionals, including Florence Nightingale, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Carlos Williams, Richard Selzer, Atul Gawande and Theresa Brown.
The Mehta Award is intended to inspire the writing of both creative fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose by members of the UAMS community. All students, staff and faculty are encouraged to submit materials to be considered for the award. This year we will award a top prize ($600 + a trophy) in each of the following categories – poetry (may include multiple poems as part of a poetry cycle or theme), fiction (this can include prose or a play), creative non-fiction (this can include prose or a play).
In order to submit, please do the following:
· Create an MS Word or PDF file with a separate title page with your name and the category you are submitting in.
· Use a running header with the title of the piece in it and page numbers if over one page in length
· Email your submission to the chair of the Award Committee, D. Micah Hester, Ph.D., (hesterdm@uams.edu), no later than Friday, Nov. 12, 2021
Two other important pieces of information:
· No submission may exceed a maximum of 5,000 words
· You may not submit more than 2 pieces of writing
Submissions will be vetted by a selection committee, and winners will announced in January of 2022, with a special Award Event following in March 2022.
The Mehta Award is made possible by a generous endowment from Drs. Paulette & Jay Mehta, and is awarded annually. Read more about the Mehtas’ inspiration for the award here.