SHIFT REPORT
Writing Contest
The Shift Report Writing Contest is an opportunity for active and retired nurses, nurse educators, nursing students, and others to share their “shift reports” with a world that needs to hear them.
It’s about you. The overworked, underpaid, burnt-the-hell-out nurse. It’s about how we change all that.
– Jennifer Floyd, RN and Founder of NLN
2021 "Shift Report" Writing Contest - Winners Announced!
The inaugural 2021 Shift Report Writing Contest is over, and we are excited to announce our winners. We were blown away by how many impressive, moving, and creative entries we received. Selecting our 3 winners and 3 runners-up was an enormous challenge. So what are you waiting for? Click below to see our winners and read their entries.
POETRY
Winner
Runner-up
Transfiguration
by Stacy Nigliazzo
Stacy R. Nigliazzo is a nurse and the award-winning author of two poetry collections (Scissored Moon and Sky the Oar). Her poems have appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review and JAMA, among other publications. She serves as co-poetry editor of Pulse, Voices From The Heart of Medicine and reviews poetry for the American Journal of Nursing.
Oxymoron
by Liz Kerr
Liz Kerr has had poetry, short stories, and commentary published in The Best Short Stories of Philadelphia, Philadelphia City Paper, Philly Fiction, The Galway Review, Sixteen Magazine (Dublin), Jewish Currents Magazine, Rust Belt Rising, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, The Lancet, The Ice Colony, Lo-Fed Chronicle and Irish Central. Her artwork has appeared in Mayday Magazine and Beyond Words Magazine. She is a registered nurse in heart transplant and oncology at a Philadelphia hospital. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and dual Irish and American citizenship.
NON-FICTION
Winner
Runner-up
In Chrysalis
by Kylie Smith
Kylie Smith is a writer based in Utah. Her work has been published in Blue Earth Review and Sink Hollow Literary Magazine.
The Quiet Loss of Self
by Siobhan McKenna
Siobhan McKenna was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She attended Johns Hopkins University for nursing school and worked as a cardiac surgery ICU nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital for several years before beginning to work as a travel nurse. Currently, Siobhan is working as a travel nurse in Seattle and is loving biking and hiking throughout the Pacific Northwest. She loves blending her love for both writing and nursing and hopes that her stories shed light on the beauty and intensity of work as an ICU nurse.
FICTION
Winner
Runner-up
The Phone Call
by David Thomas Peacock
David Thomas Peacock is a musician who became an ER nurse who survived cancer and somehow became a writer. Sometimes you don’t discover what you were meant to do until your third act.
Through Her Eyes: A Covid-19 Story
by Alison Shely
Alison Shely is a nurse practitioner, nurse coach, and nurse content writer who specializes in articles, guest blogging, and healthcare worker wellness. She has been in nursing since 2014, working in intensive care, women’s health, and primary care as a registered nurse and family nurse practitioner. She has written for a variety of publications, including rncareers.org. Her specialty topics include mental health, health and wellness, yoga philosophy and practice, and community health. She also serves as a health coach and mentor to other nurses and healthcare workers concerning healthy lifestyles and mental health.
Visit her website for coaching details and other writing samples: npcoachalison.com