Skip to content
As the Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus

As the Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus

(Oona Tempest/KHN)

Submissions are now open for KHN’s fourth annual Halloween Haiku competition. KHN has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is on pins and needles to see how this holiday season inspires you. We want your best scary health care or health policy haiku. Submissions will be judged by an esteemed panel of experts. We’ll share favorites on our social media channels, and members of our staff will pick the winners, announced on Monday, Oct. 31.

Rules:

  • Submit your haiku to https://kffhealthnews.org/contact-haiku/ with the link to the related KHN article.
  • Like Kaiser Health News and California Healthline on Facebook, and follow @KFFHealthNews on Twitter and @KaiserHealthNews on Instagram.
  • (Optional) Include your Twitter or Instagram handle in the submission and let us know if it’s OK to give you a shout-out on social media.
  •  Submit your haiku by 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 21.
  •  To win, the haiku must meet the following criteria:
    • Follow the format of a haiku (a three-line poem with 17 syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count).
    • Contain information related to health care and/or health policy that follows the scary/Halloween theme.
    • The best ones will reference a KHN story in the haiku.

Prizes:

  • Julie Rovner will read the winning submission on KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ podcast on Oct. 27. An extra, creative treat this year: The top three haikus will be announced with a custom comic illustration drawn by staff illustrator Oona Tempest. The grand prize-winning haiku will also be featured in the KHN Morning Briefing on Oct. 31, and we will give you a shout-out — or blood-curdling scream — on our social media pages, with the hashtag #HealthCareScare.