Summon Your Spookiest Halloween Health Care Haikus

Sharpen your quills, brave souls. The spirits of health care bills past, present, and future are calling … and they demand haikus.

Submissions are now open for KFF Health News’ seventh annual Halloween haiku competition. KFF Health News has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is dying to read your frightful inspirations.

We want your eeriest health care or health policy haiku. Submissions will be judged by a body of experts from our newsroom.

We’ll share favorites on our social media channels, and our newsroom ghouls will pick the winners, announced on Friday, Oct. 31. So gather your courage (and your syllables) and haunt us with your best.

Rules:

• Submit your haiku to https://kffhealthnews.org/contact-haiku/ with the link to the related KFF Health News article.
• “Like” KFF Health News on Facebook, and follow @KFFHealthNews on X, @kffhealthnews.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @KFFHealthNews on Instagram.
• (Optional) Include your X, Bluesky, or Instagram handle in the submission and let us know if it’s OK to give you a shoutout on social media.
• Submit your haiku by the witching hour, 11:59 p.m. ET, on Sunday, Oct. 19.
• To win, the haiku should 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.
  • Reference a KFF Health News story in the haiku — as a bonus.
  • No use of artificial intelligence is allowed. Entries created or modified by AI will not be considered.

Submissions may be lightly edited for style and clarity before publication.

Prizes:

The top three haikus will rise again with a custom comic illustration drawn by staff illustrator Oona Zenda. The grand-prize winner will have their haiku featured in the KFF Health News Morning Briefing on Oct. 31, and we will give you a shoutout ― or hair-raising scream ― on our social media pages, with the hashtag #HealthCareScare.