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The Procedure Awards

Celebrating bold books that reimagine healthcare.

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We are delighted to announce the inaugural launch of The Procedure Awards, which recognize imaginative works challenging conventional narratives in medicine and offering fresh, human-centric, and creative visions for the future of health. This annual award uplifts authors who expand what is possible — whether in form, content, or perspective — to rethink how care is understood and delivered.

We welcome a wide range of books related to healthcare, including those that center patient, clinician, and community voices; explore the intersections of health and social progress; or blend art, science, and lived experience. Whether you’re writing from the clinic, the margins, or somewhere in between, if your work sparks new ways of seeing, we’d love to read it.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Nora Kenworthy for her winning book Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare.

Over the past decade charitable crowdfunding has exploded in popularity across the globe. Sites such as GoFundMe, which now boasts a “global community of over 100 million” users, have transformed the ways we seek and offer help. When faced with crises— particularly medical ones—Americans are turning to online platforms that promise to connect them to the charity of the crowd. What does this new phenomenon reveal about the changing ways we seek and provide healthcare? In Crowded Out, Nora Kenworthy examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is taking us, and who gets left behind by this new platformed economy. 

While crowdfunding has become ubiquitous in our lives, it is often misunderstood: rather than a friendly free market “powered by the kindness” of strangers, crowdfunding is powerfully reinforcing inequalities and changing the way Americans think about, and access, health care. Drawing on extensive research and rich storytelling, Crowded Out demonstrates how crowdfunding for health is fueled by, and further reinforces, financial and moral “toxicities” in market-based health systems. It offers a unique and distressing look beneath the surface of some of the most popular charitable platforms, and helps to foster thoughtful discussions of how we can better respond to health care crises both small and large. 

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Nora Kenworthy is a writer, professor, and public health expert whose work examines how politics, technology, and inequality affect health. She is a Professor of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Washington (UW) Bothell, and she also holds adjunct appointments in the Departments of Anthropology and Global Health at UW Seattle. Kenworthy is the author of Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare (MIT Press, 2024), and the award-winning ethnography, Mistreated: The Political Consequences of the Fight Against AIDS in Lesotho (Vanderbilt University Press, 2017). She is the coeditor of two additional books and the author of numerous articles on how politics and technology shape health around the world. She has written for Scientific American, Popular Science, The Washington Post, and others, and her research is frequently covered in the news media. She received a PhD and MA in Sociomedical from Columbia University and a BA in Political Science from Williams College.
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Nora Kenworthy

2026 short list

2026 long list

Rebel Health Book Cover

2026 Winner!

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Awards & recognition

The Procedure Award is a bold, custom-designed luxury pill box created in collaboration with Chronically Chic designer Kallista Hammer, featuring artwork by illustrator Yuqi Lu. Both beautiful and functional, this unique trophy is our top prize for the year.

In addition to the Procedure Award, the winner will receive prominent recognition across our platforms, a curated gift, and a digital award seal to celebrate and share the achievement.

Finalists also receive a gift and digital award seal, in addition to public acknowledgment of the achievement.

2026 guest judges

Dr. Rana Awdish

Dr. Rana Awdish is the bestselling author of In Shock, a landmark medical memoir, and the forthcoming book After Shock. She is the Medical Director of Care Experience at Henry Ford Health and pulmonary critical care physician. She was named Schwartz Center’s National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year and a U.S. News & World Report Healthcare Hero and as well as Physician of the Year by Press Ganey. She is recognized as a leading voice on healing, has written for The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post. She has been featured on NPR, BBC, and CNN.

Victor M. Montori, MD

Victor M. Montori, MD, is the Robert H. and Susan M. Rewoldt Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. An endocrinologist, health services researcher, and care activist, Dr. Montori is the author of nearly 800 peer-reviewed publications. He is also the 2024-2025 Human Rights and Technology Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He is a recognized expert in evidence-based medicine, shared decision making, and minimally disruptive medicine. He works in Rochester, Minnesota, at Mayo Clinic’s KER Unit, to advance person-centered care for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions. As a care activist, he authored the book Why We Revolt, and is leading a movement, a Patient Revolution, for careful and kind care for all.

Todd Otten

Dr. Todd Otten is a husband, father, family physician, and decorated Naval flight surgeon. He has held numerous physician leadership positions, including as an ACO medical director and is the co-author of Ripple of Change, which was co-written with a former patient. He is also the Executive Producer for the documentary Suck it Up, Buttercup, Trust and Betrayal in American Medicine and currently serves as the Lead Catalyst/Board Chair for Medicine Forward and the Director of Strategic Relationships for Emergency Care Specialists.

Terms and conditions for The Procedure Awards

Submission guidelines
  • No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win. Purchase will not improve chances of winning.
  • Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and legal United States residents, excluding U.S. territories (e.g., Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands). Employees, officers, and directors of Procedure Press and its partners, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and fulfillment agencies, their immediate family members, and individuals residing in their same household are not eligible. Void where prohibited
  • Entrants may submit their own work or nominate others.
  • Submitted books or chapbooks must be the original work of the entrant or, if submitting on another author’s behalf, the original work of the author who the entrant represents.
  • All entries must be written in English. Translations are not eligible.
  • Maximum of five entries per person.
  • Books must have been published in the United States within the last two years from the date of submission. This awards program is open to books published in the U.S., excluding U.S. territories (e.g., Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands).
  • Procedure Press reserves the right to disqualify any submission that does not comply with all guidelines or meet eligibility requirements or that is not successfully transmitted and received by the submission deadline below.
  • Self-published and traditionally published works are both welcome.
  • Submissions must be received no later than November 9, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
  • Physical books submitted will not be returned.
  • Both digital and physical copies are accepted. If submitting a physical copy, it must be received — not postmarked — by the submission deadline.
  • Procedure Press may request up to five (5) additional physical copies of the submitted book from finalists to facilitate the judging process. Authors will be responsible for providing these additional copies upon request.
  • Mass entries or mechanical reproductions are invalid. Entries must be on topic and not offensive, demeaning, or derogatory.
Copyright and indemnification
  • Copyright remains with the author. However, Procedure Press reserves the right to publish brief excerpts (up to 250 words) of finalist and winning entries for marketing and award promotion.
  • By submitting, the entrant affirms they are the lawful copyright holder of the book submitted or duly authorized by the lawful copyright holder of the book submitted and have the authority to make the submission and grant the reproduction permission above.
  • Procedure Press will not share submissions with any third party outside the scope of the awards program (e.g., judges or official award staff). However, it is understood that submission involves some level of public exposure.
  • Procedure Press is not liable for any breach of copyright arising from submission and will not be responsible for infringement claims.
  • The author assumes all responsibility for any claims of defamation, copyright infringement, or other legal issues related to their submitted work.
  • Entrants agree to indemnify and hold harmless Procedure Press from any and all legal claims arising from their submission.
  • Neither Procedure Press nor any of its officers, directors, shareholders, employees, agents, or representatives (individually and collectively, “Releasees”) are responsible for submissions from persons residing or physically located outside the United States (excluding its territories), or submissions that are altered, delayed, deleted, destroyed, forged, fraudulent, illegible, improperly accessed, inaccurate, incomplete, interrupted, irregular in any way, late, lost, misdirected, multiple, non-delivered, stolen, tampered with, unauthorized, unintelligible, or otherwise not in compliance with these terms and conditions; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable network, server or other connections; miscommunications; failed computer hardware or software or telephone transmissions; technical failures; unauthorized human intervention; traffic congestion; garbled or jumbled transmissions; undeliverable emails resulting from any form of active or passive email filtering; insufficient space in entrant’s email account to receive email; or other errors of any kind, whether due to electronic, human, mechanical, printing, production or technical errors or other causes; even if caused by the negligence of any of the Releasees.  Each of such potential submissions will be disqualified and any attempt by a person to use multiple accounts to register more than the number of submissions allowed may result in disqualification at Procedure Press’s sole discretion. Void where prohibited or restricted by law, and subject to applicable federal, state, local, and municipal laws and regulations.
Privacy & data use
  • By entering, participants consent to Procedure Press storing their email address and contact information for award-related communication and occasional promotional messages.
  • This information will never be sold or shared with third parties not affiliated with the administration of the awards program, except to the extent necessary to process, judge, and select submissions, notify finalists and award winners, and publicly promote The Procedure Awards and publish the finalists and winners, as well as excerpts from their submissions.
  • Participants may request to opt out of further communications from Procedure Press at any time by submitting a written request.
  • All data will be handled in accordance with relevant privacy laws and securely stored. Any and all material entered and submitted for The Procedure Awards or otherwise collected by Procedure Press’s website or the website on which Procedure Awards’ main page is located will only be used for purposes related to the awards process and will not be shared without permission.
Judging & selection process
  • All eligible submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges selected by Procedure Press. Judges may include authors, healthcare practitioners, artists, scholars, and publishing professionals who align with the mission of Procedure Press.
  • Judging will be based on a range of criteria including originality, artistic and literary merit, relevance to healthcare themes, and overall contribution to the cultural conversation around health and healing.
  • Finalists and winners will be notified via email during or around the week of December 1, 2025. Please ensure that Procedure Press has your current, correct email address. Winners accept their award within 48 hours of transmission of the email notification. Procedure Press is not responsible for and shall not be liable for late, lost, misdirected, or unsuccessful efforts to notify winner. Winner may not substitute, assign or transfer award or redeem award for cash or credit. Any costs associated with the award, are the sole responsibility of the winner.
  • At the sole discretion of Procedure Press, disqualification, forfeiture and the selection of an alternate winner may result from any of the following: [1] potential winner’s failure to accept the prize within 48 hours of email notification; [2] the failure of notification or undeliverable emails resulting from any form of active or passive email filtering; insufficient space in entrant’s email account to receive email; [3] potential winner’s failure to provide Procedure Press with satisfactory proof of age, identity and residency; [4] potential winner’s failure to complete, execute, and return to Procedure Press a liability release agreement and, except where prohibited, a publicity release and other such documents as may be required by Procedure Press within period specified; and [5] potential winner’s failure to comply with any other requirements or restrictions in these terms and conditions. In the event of an award forfeiture, Procedure Press may, in its sole discretion, award or not award the forfeited award to an alternate winner.
  • Subject to timely receipt of their acceptance of the award, finalists and winners will be announced publicly on the Procedure Press website, in a press release, and via social media platforms during or around the week of February 23, 2026, 2025.
  • All decisions made by the judging panel are final and binding in all respects. Procedure Press reserves the right not to name a winner in any given year if submissions do not meet the quality or relevance standards.
Publicity & marketing
  • Winners and finalists agree to provide a photo and short quote or written response, if requested, in a timely manner, as determined by Procedure Press, for marketing purposes.
  • A digital award seal will be provided to the winners and finalists for public recognition and display.
  • By submitting, participants grant Procedure Press the right to use their name, likeness, and submission content (including images of the book and excerpts of up to 250 words) for promotional purposes, including but not limited to social media, press materials, and our website.
General conditions
  • By making a submission and/or accepting any award you may win, you agree, represent, and warrant that: [1] you will be bound by these terms and conditions and Procedure Press’s decisions, which shall be final in all respects; [2] you release and hold harmless the Releasees, from: (a) telephone, electronic, hardware or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures, or difficulties of any kind; (b) any condition caused by events beyond the control of Procedure Press that may cause The Procedure Awards to be disrupted or corrupted; (c) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with The Procedure Awards; (d) any and all losses, damages, rights, suits, claims and actions of any kind, including without limitation death and bodily injury, in connection with or arising from, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, the awarding, delivery, acceptance, use, misuse, possession, loss or misdirection of the prize; participation inThe Procedure Awards or any awards-related activity, or from any interaction with or downloading of computer Procedure Awards information; [3] the Releasees do not make any representation, warranty or guarantee, express or implied, relating to The Procedure Awards or the awards; [4] winner’s acceptance of an award constitutes the grant to Procedure Press and assigns of an unconditional right to use winner’s name, photo, likeness, voice, biographical information and statements, at any time or times, for advertising, trade publicity, promotional and commercial purposes without additional compensation, in connection with the running or advertising of The Procedure Awards, except where prohibited by law; [5] Procedure Press has the right, at its sole discretion, to modify these terms and conditions or to cancel, modify, terminate, or suspend The Procedure Awards at any time; [6] the Releasees are not responsible for typographical or other errors in the offer or administration of The Procedure Awards, including but not limited to: errors in the advertising, terms and conditions, selection and announcement of the winners and distribution of the prizes; [7] the Releasees are not responsible for any inability of the winner to accept or use the prize (or any portion thereof) for any reason; [8] Procedure Press reserves the right to modify prize award procedures at its sole discretion; [9] the Releasees are not responsible for any failure of delivery of winner notification; [10] Procedure Press reserves the right to require winner to submit to a confidential background check to confirm eligibility as a condition of awarding the awards to help ensure that the use of any such person in advertising or publicity for The Procedure Awards will not bring Procedure Press into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or reflect unfavorably onThe Procedure Awards as determined by Procedure Press in its sole discretion; and [11] all issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these terms and conditions or the rights and obligations of entrants, winners and Procedure Press in connection with The Procedure Awards, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions, that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of California.
Winners list
  • For name(s) of winner(s), email your request to procedure@uncommonbold.com with the subject line 'The Procedure Awards Winners List Request' prior to March 31, 2026.