Summon Your Spookiest Halloween Health Care Haikus

A drawing of a medical bill scaring a ghost and a ghoul. Text reads: Halloween Health Care Haiku! Enter now! 2025"
(Oona Zenda/KFF Health News)

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:

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.

2024 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Crystal Decker)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Sasha Zitter)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Siri Palreddy)

2023 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Madeline Steward)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Tom Cook)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Brynne McBride)

2022 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Paul Hughes-Cromwick)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Micki Jackson)
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Michael L. Millenson)
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