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Goody Gumdrops! It’s Freakin’ Time to Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Care Haikus.

Goody Gumdrops! It’s Freakin’ Time to Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Care Haikus.

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(Oona Zenda/KFF Health News)

Ghosts, ghouls, and readers, beware: Your health care scare is around the corner. Submissions are now open for KFF Health News’ fifth annual Halloween Haiku competition. KFF Health News has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is dying to read how this spooky season inspires you. We want your best scary 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 members of our skeletal staff will pick the winners, announced on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Rules:

  • Submit your haiku by clicking here and include the link to the related KFF Health News article.
  • Like KFF Health News and California Healthline on Facebook, and follow @KFFHealthNews on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
  • (Optional) Include your X 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 Monday, Oct. 23.
  • 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.

Prizes:

The top three haikus will be announced with a custom comic illustration drawn by staff illustrator Oona Tempest. 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 shout-out ― or hair-raising scream ― on our social media pages, with the hashtag #HealthCareScare.

2022 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

A black and white cartoon drawing of a witch lying on her back looking at her phone with a frightened expression. A black cat stands on her stomach and paws at the window, where viruses and bacteria are floating menacingly outside. At the bottom of the drawing, a haiku reads: "Covid, Ebola, / Monkeypox, seasonal flu – / Who needs Halloween?"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Paul Hughes-Cromwick)
A black and white cartoon ink drawing shows two skeletons in a mirrored position looking at each other. One is a real skeleton while the other is a human in a costume. They are thinking. A spider holding a face mask is hanging between them. Below the drawing, a haiku reads: "Ghastly, grotesque, sick! / You mask up to trick-or-treat, / But not for covid?"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Micki Jackson)
A black and white cartoon drawing shoes a headless horseman holding surprise medical bills while yelling, "surpriiiiiise!" Below him, a haiku reads: "Surprise billing curbs, / Like the famed headless horseman, / Remain incomplete."
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Michael L. Millenson)
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