I received the email while I was at the International Conference for Fantastic in the Arts this past March. 

Thank you for participating in 2100: A Health Odyssey! This has truly been an exciting and fun competition… The quality and diversity  of the entries we received were outstanding. We are pleased to announce that your story has been selected as one of our six winners! Congratulations!  (And, yes, the bold font was part of the email. I suppose it was just in case I missed the point.)

I had to read the email six or seven times. Was it really saying that my story One Widow’s Healing would be honored on May 7th at a gala celebration of six writers? Even after reading and rereading, I was sure it was a mistake. It wasn’t until I received a follow-up email asking me to fill in a W-9 IRS form so they could arrange for my prize money, that it began to sink in.

I don’t normally enter short story or other fiction contests. But this one was intriguing. The writing prompt was to write a science fiction story that would illustrate the future of health care, specifically in the year 2100. What was most interesting is that the competition was sponsored by Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, one of the highest rated health care facilities in the country. Specifically, they wanted a positive, hopeful story that could potentially influence how health care will actually develop in the future. In the words of Dr. Stephen Klasko, the CEO of Jefferson, “Almost anything you can dream can happen, if you do it in science fiction.”

Here’s Dr. Klasko’s visionary description of what they were seeking:

 

Watching that video, how could I not want to participate?

To say that I’m thrilled that the judges felt my story gave them hope about a possible health care future is to put it mildly. No, I didn’t win the grand prize of $10,000. But my prize money is enough to pay for several weeks this summer during which I can put aside everything and just write fiction. That’s quite a present to receive. And what an honor!

Many thanks to Dr. Klasko, the impressive panel of judges and Jefferson Hospital.

Click here — One Widow’s Healing — to read my short story. Then, please let me know what you think.