Medical Economics Doctors' Writing Contest 2001

Go where your dream takes you!

There's a trip you're longing to take. Would it carry you to a place you've only read about? Would it bring to life again an unforgettable journey you made years ago? Wherever the dream lies, we can send you there as the Grand Prize winner in our article competition.

Write this year's most compelling story—one drawn from your own experience—and we'll pay the tab (up to $9,000) for you and anyone you want to share the adventure. We'll even help with the arrangements.

The Grand Prize is only one of several:

• Second Prize: $4,000 toward your vacation of choice or, if you prefer, that amount in cash.

• Third Prize: $2,000 in cash.

• Honorable Mention: a generous gift certificate.

• Plus a special $2,000 cash award for the best article by a doctor who's been in practice for no more than five years or is still a resident. This winner will also be in the running for the Grand Prize.

What will it take to win?

An original article that your fellow physicians will find absorbing. It may describe problems in your practice and the changes you've made to deal with them. It may relate a gripping experience—professional or personal—that affected you deeply and could affect other doctors as well, regardless of their age, specialty, or circumstances.

Need a "for instance"? See a couple of last year's winners: "What would make your day perfect?" and "After the hurricane, the healing begins".

Have you really got a chance to win?

Absolutely! Wherever you are in your career—just starting out, in midstream, or getting ready to retire—you've probably got at least one story worth telling to colleagues across the country. Write that story in straightforward, conversational fashion, as if you were telling it to a friend over coffee. Send it to us, and if it's accepted, our editors will help you tell it in Medical Economics.

Here's a sampling of ideas that might win for you. Stories like these have come to life in our pages:

• Have you changed your outlook and approach to practice, in a way that has re-energized you and made you more helpful to patients? Tell us why you're happy again to be a physician.

• Have you emerged from a personal, professional, or legal ordeal, one that gave you a new perspective on medicine, your career, and your life? Describe what you went through—and what it taught you.

• Did you come up with a new policy, system, or maybe just a simple procedure that has made you and your office staff more efficient?

• Have you faced a challenge to your professional ethics or personal beliefs? If so, what insights did you gain?

• Did you go through a crisis in your family life—one that occurred at home or while you were far away? What happened, and what was it like?

What WON'T win a prize

• Clinical articles, fiction, or poetry. Sorry, those submissions get rejected automatically.

• Essays on "big picture" topics in health care—unless you make a solid link, with examples and anecdotes, between the message of the article and your own experience in practice.

• Reminiscences about long-ago events—unless you can tie them convincingly to your life and practice today.

For more help in deciding on a topic and shaping a winning manuscript, ask for a copy of our Writer's Guide.

How to enter—as many articles as you wish

• By mail: Send each manuscript (to the address at right), double-spaced, with a heading that includes your name, address, Social Security number, daytime phone, and—if you have them—fax number and e-mail address. Be sure to include your CV. If you want an unaccepted manuscript returned, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

• By fax: Send the manuscript and accompanying information to Writing Contest at 201-722-2688.

• By e-mail: Send the manuscript and other information to helen.mckenna@medec.com as either message text or an attachment.

Who's eligible to enter—and our rules

All MDs and DOs can compete for prizes, except the Contributing Editors listed on our masthead. Each entry must be original, previously unpublished, and submitted exclusively to Medical Economics.

Some more article ideas

These articles have been in the running for the Grand Prize in past competitions:

"Our dream group practice became a nightmare"
"My malpractice case was a blessing in disguise"
"When a DNR order can be therapeutic"
"There's what we say—and what the patient hears"
"My system was embezzlement-proof. Yeah, right"
"Dear Patient: I didn't commit Medicare fraud. Here's why . . ."
"Something was wrong with me—but I had work to do"
"How could a doctor not stop for this car crash?"
"I learned my bedside manner the hard way"
"They labeled me a 'questionable doctor'—and I fought like hell to clear my name"

To mail your entry or request a free Writer's Guide, contact:

Helen McKenna, Outside Copy Editor
Medical Economics magazine
5 Paragon Drive
Montvale, NJ 07645-1742

Phone: 201-358-7367
e-mail: helen.mckenna@medec.com

CONTEST DEADLINE:
NOV. 30, 2001

 

Medical Economics Doctors' Writing Contest 2001. Medical Economics 2001;5:112.