May 2009

The 16th Annual Carol A. Bowman Creative Writing Contest for Medical Students

About the judges:

Jan Weissmiller holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She won the Loess Hills Poetry Award for her collection In Divided Light, published by Loess Hills Press. She also co-edited, with Jerry Harp, A Poetry Criticism Reader, published in 2006 by The University of Iowa Press. Jan is co-owner of Prairie Lights Books, where she is poetry buyer and coordinator of the poetry readings for WSUI’s Live From Prairie Lights.

Scott Temple, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa, where he has conducted research into psychotherapy for psychosis and for severe mood disorders. He currently directs a training program for mental health clinicians working with depressed youth. Dr. Temple has completed coursework in the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program. He is a fiction and non-fiction writer, whose work recently appeared in The Best of the Bellevue Literary Review.

Sponsored by the UI Carver College of Medicine Program in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities

Co-sponsored by the UI Carver College of Medicine's Writing Program.

Created by Richard Caplan, M.D.


First Place Winner ($200)

Nicholas Gregory, M2G, Gathering Light

Judges' Comments:

"This collection uses the most brilliant, sharply chiseled, quirky imagery… the author displays a wonderful craftsmanship, a control of emotions and a maturity that makes for some very moving reading.  Wonderful imagery, brevity, condensation, vitality."

"I appreciated the ambition of this project.  The sustained use of stream-of-consciousness in the first section was impressive."

Second Place Winner ($125)

Harmony Schuttler, '11, “But Sometimes She Dreams of the Sea”

Judges' Comments:

"I immediately fell into this poem with curiosity. "

"The way that the speaker objectifies herself is the strength of this piece. The move from the penultimate stanza to the final stanza strategically clinches the poem.  All-in-all, it has an acute (even surgical) vision that is extremely powerful."

Third Place Winner ($75)

Amy Jongeling, '09, “Breathless”

Judge's Comments:

"The metaphor was strong and consistent and the lyric language worked well."

Honorable Mention

Lauren Hughes, '09, “terrified”

Judge's Comments

“The pacing of this piece is lovely. The speaker is terribly sensitive to the situation.”

Brent Nichols, '10, “February” and “Morning Rounds”

Judge's Comments

“’Morning Rounds’” is a sensitive short essay. The understatement in the face of the gravity of the situation is acute.”