Along with the October issue of Health Affairs, which will focus on disability and health, the Narrative Matters section of Health Affairs organize a poetry contest.
The poetry contest will be open from June 24 to July 25. We are looking for well-written poems that address disability and health-related topics, by writers with lived experience of disability. (Note: This includes family members or caregivers of people with disabilities). The winning poet will receive a $500 prize and publication in the October issue of Health Affairs.
All entries will be read by Health Affairs personal and one winning poem will be selected by a guest judge with lived experience of disability.
The competition guidelines are:
- Limit of 3 poems submitted per person.
- Each poem must be submitted separately through our submission portal here: https://healthaffairs.submittable.com/submit/707cb7e9-ed81-49ea-8695-568657fff799/narrative-matters-poetry-contest-on-disability-and-health
- Poems can be submitted in written, audio or video form (for ASL sign language/poetry).
- Written poems should be submitted in pdf or word doc format. No more than one page, single-spaced, with a font size of at least 11 points, and must be written in English.
- Poems in audio format must be submitted as an audio file (please use mp3 format). No longer than 4 minutes and must also be in English.
- Poems in Sign Language/ASL video format must be submitted as a video file with captioning or spoken interpretation (please use mp4 format). No more than 4 minutes.
- The type of format will not be a factor in judging; all types of format will be considered objectively.
- Poems must be unpublished.
- The poems themselves should not contain the poet’s name.
You can read some earlier poems published by Health Affairs, including winners of the 2015 and 2019 Narrative Matters poetry competitions, patient and consumer poems, poems about vulnerable populations, and poems about the cancer experience.
As part of Health Affairs‘ to support and raise awareness of disability and health, we will launch a video component, as well as unique artwork and digital assets, alongside research to lay the groundwork for the issue. We invite participants to submit their responses to video production proposals and artwork and digital assets by July 15th.
We look forward to your submissions!
