Dorothy Summers 2nd Annual Art Prize, for Healthcare Professionals, Students and Trainees
Medical Humanities & the Arts
The Stanford Medical Humanities and Arts Program at Stanford School of Medicine is proud to announce a call for submissions to the Dorothy Summers 2nd Annual Art Prize, for Healthcare Professionals, Students and Trainees.
The prize is named in honor of Dorothy Summers, the mother of Dr. Audrey Shafer, the founder of the Stanford Medical Humanities and Arts Program. Dorothy Summers was a visual artist and costume designer who inspired both of her daughters to pursue their dreams, in both art and medicine.
Theme: Art Inspired by or Related to Health Care Education, Experience or Practice
Open to: All clinical health profession students, trainees and faculty (doctors, nurses, physician assistants, social workers, occupational therapists, etc.), and students. You do not need to be affiliated with Stanford University to enter.
Accepted Mediums:
Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Photography, Ceramics, Mixed Media, Glass, Print Making and Digital Arts
Not Accepted:
Film, video or art created by artificial intelligence.
Previously published work.
Monetary prizes totaling $1,000 for first, second, and third place.
There is no fee to submit. Submissions accepted until May 6, 2024.
Pictured: Third place award winner 2023, Nicole Cromwell, "The Dance 2"
Dorothy Bunnell Marx Summers (1926 - 2014) was a visual artist specializing in costume design and construction, painting, and graphic arts. She was also a children’s clothing designer and ceramicist. Highlights of her career include costume design for director André Gregory at Philadelphia Theatre of Living Arts, and for the documentary film The Detached Americans, narrated by Harry Reasoner. She produced graphic design for publications and signage at Moore College of Art, Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, and Tech Interactive at San Jose. A descendant of the family of Thomas Potter, who built the New Jersey chapel where the first Universalist sermon was preached in the American colonies, she grew up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and attended Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts). A single parent, she raised two women physicians, Drs. Anne Summers and Audrey Shafer, and became the proud grandmother of Thomas Shafer, Jonathan Weiss, Rebecca Hamilton, and Gregory Weiss. In her family, she instilled a love of the arts, an appreciation for education, and a commitment to value all who identify with the LGBTQ+ community. She was grateful for her care at Stanford Medicine, where she had two aortic valve surgeries, and a permanent pacemaker placed. Dorothy Summers touched everyone who met her, with her notable wit, her resilience through hardship, and her enduring belief in the arts as essential to our lives.