hektoen international essay contest

Medical Humanities Writing Opportunity

Hektoen International is pleased to announce our 7th annual medical humanities essay competition.  We are accepting well-researched articles and personal narratives that relate to medicine, healthcare, and the humanities.  There will be an award of $3000 for the winner and $800 for the runner-up.  Our published articles are read by a large international audience, providing a unique opportunity for both new and established writers.  Please spread the word to students, faculty, and staff that may be interested!  More information and guidelines may be found at www.hekint.org    We look forward to reading the work of the Perelman/UPenn community!    Best,    Anne Jacobson, MD, MPH    Associate Editor    Hektoen International Journal of Medical Humanities

Please send any questions to [email protected]

Educational Programs

Even though Hektoen has evolved over the years, it still maintains a commitment to furthering medical/health education as a resource, collaborator and sponsor.  Below are examples of Hektoen’s current approach to education.

Hektoen’s founders have made seminal contributions to the disciplines of liver disease, gastroenterology, urology, cardiology, and renal diseases, resulting in the publication of more than 2,700 scientific papers. They helped advance medical education by means of lectures, symposia, and fellowships through key programs like:

• Medicine and the Arts
• The Morris T. Friedell Mentorship Program
• The Society of Medical History
• Medical Ethics Project  

Learn more about Hektoen Institute of Medicine’s educational programming roots

Hektoen International Journal

The journal started in November 2008 with the purpose of bringing culture into medicine and exposing healthcare professionals to art, ethics, literature, history, anthropology, literature, philosophy, religion, and sociology. This free, online-only publication  averages more than 1 million annual page views and currently has more than 3,000 articles that are brought to life by 4,000+ images.  It also sponsors an annual “Grand Prix” essay contest.

Access online-journal

Nurses & the Humanities

Hektoen’s Nurses & the Humanities initiative was founded in June 2006 to present programs that demonstrate and encourage the healing power of the arts and the humanities for caregivers and their patients.  There is also an adjunct called the Hektoen Institute Nurses and Humanities Advisory Committee which provides humanistic, creative and interactive educational opportunities to clinicians.

Writing education and mentorships

Writing contests .  Since 2012 Hektoen has  promoted excellence in writing under the  rubric of humanity in medicine by sponsoring eleven international writing contests, awarding monetary prizes to the winners and publishing their articles in its journal. Most contests covered general subjects such as art, literature, history, and patient care; some addressed specific subjects such as the history and use of blood in medicine.  The winners and the subjects of their essays are listed in the Archives section of Hektoen International.

Lebanon collaboration. In May, 2021, Dr. Sally Metzler, a member of the Hektoen Board of Trustees, developed a cooperative program with the Lebanese American School of Medicine in Beirut, Lebanon. It consisted of sponsoring a writing contest in which all members of the school community, including students, faculty, residents, fellows, non-teaching staff, and alumni, were invited to contribute essays on the overall theme “The Glory of Lebanon”. The authors of the first- and second-place essays received monetary prizes, and the editors of the Journal selected four entries that were published in the Journal. In this era of social upheaval, virtual interaction, and burgeoning technology, this unique international collaboration has reminded us of the vital connection between humanism and medicine. Read winning articles.

American School of London (ASL). In  the spring of 2021, Dr. Sally Metzler spearheaded an educational  partnership with the American School of London (ASL). Ms. Juliana Menegakis, a junior at the ASL, was selected as the first  Hektoen International – ASL   journal intern. Her project focused on learning about the contents, mission, and operation of  the Hektoen International journal; editing an online journal; research and writing. Ms. Menegakis selected a special topic and composed Queen Juana: the mad or betrayed, an essay on Juana of Castille that was published in the History Essays section of the Journal.

In July 2022 Dr. James Franklin, a member of the Hektoen Board of Trustees, counselled and mentored Mr. Nicholas Ghantous. The project selected by Mr Ghantous addressed the physical benefits of Salat prayers in Islam, and his paper,  Physical benefits of Salat prayers in Islam , was published in the Islam section of the journal.

Aid to Chicago’s minority youth.  Hektoen has supported monetarily the I Am Abel Foundation and is developing with it a strategic partnership that focuses on exposing Chicago minority youth to the humanities and  helping them enter into careers in healthcare.  This includes identifying additional resources for I Am Abel and supporting its educational efforts. Hektoen has also provided monetary support to organizations with similar educational missions such as Chicago’s Youth Guidance and Luminarts.

Foxglove Alliance

Operationally coordinated and financially supported by Hektoen, the Foxglove Alliance (FGA) was formed in 2015 and in addition to engaging in education initiatives, it is dedicated to:

• Engaging in community health programs
• Marketing, Communications/Promotion & Advocacy
• Formation of joint initiatives and strategic collaborations
• Issue identification, discussions and analysis
• Calls to action on critical and/or noteworthy public health care issues.

The other current FGA members are:  

• Access to Care
• The Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative
• Health Care Council of Chicago
• The I Am Abel Foundation
• The Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics
• The Illinois Medical District
• The Institute of Medicine of Chicago
• The Lead Abatement Resource Center
• The Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation
• The Portes Foundation
• The Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago
• West Side United

Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Guidelines for the 2021 Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Competition

THE HEKTOEN INTERNATIONAL 2021 GRAND PRIX CLOSED SEPTEMBER 15th, 2021 AT 12PM (NOON). 

We invite you to participate in the 2021 Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Competition in honor of Hektoen Institute Board Member Mrs. Hella Mannheimer (1924-2020).

Two prizes will be awarded: $5,000 for the winner and $2,500 for the runner-up. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting your article for publication.

Topics might include art, history, literature, education, etc. as they relate to medicine. In order to ensure the receipt of a wide variety of articles, we have decided to exclude those dealing with COVID 19 from this contest. We have many articles on medical history, so please search for your topic to see if it has been extensively covered before submitting an article.

Essays should be under 1,500 words. The deadline is September 15, 2021, at 12 pm (Noon) CST.

Contest submissions should be sent to [email protected] or submitted using the form below.

In Memoriam: Hella Mannheimer (1924-2020) was a longtime Board Member of the Hektoen Institute of Medicine and served as President of the Women’s Auxiliary Board. She faithfully attended every meeting of the Hektoen Board of Trustees and was a fervent supporter of the humanities. The Hektoen Institute of Medicine thanks her for her years of dedication, and remembers her this year by naming the Hektoen International Grand Prix Essay Competition in her honor.

Contest rules and guidelines

• Submission of an article implies consent to publish in Hektoen International. If accepted for publication, an article may be published at any time regardless of the outcome of the competition. If major edits are made, proofs will be sent to the authors before publication.
• The contest is open to participants 18 years or older.
• For multiple author articles, only one person should submit the entry and communicate with the editors.
• Entries should be no longer than 1,500 words and must follow our article guidelines, including a cover page and proper formatting of both text and illustrations. Incomplete submissions will be deemed ineligible for submission.
• Articles may include images. If you provide an image, please review the guidelines in the Illustrations section below.
• Contest submissions should be sent to [email protected] or submitted using our form by September 15, 2021, at 12 pm (Noon) CST. Late submissions will not be considered.
• Submissions will be read by the editors and contest judges for Hektoen International . The editors of the journal will recommend submissions and edits for publication and contest judges will read the original submission presented by the author.
• The winners of the contest will be announced by email in 2021 and winning articles will be published in a 2021 issue of Hektoen International.
• Participants should certify that their work is original and that they have copyright ownership and permission to use any images submitted.
• Please send inquiries to [email protected] .

Article guidelines

Articles must be unpublished, original work that relates medicine to the humanities and  no more than 1,500 words in length . Each submission should include:

• Author(s) names, titles/degrees, professional affiliation, and location (as you would like it listed in the journal)
• A biography no longer than 100 words
• The author’s contact information
• The title and page numbers in the document header
• The full text of the article in Times New Roman, size 12, and double-spaced. Please format in Chicago style ( chicagomanualofstyle.org ) or AMA style ( www.amamanualofstyle.com )
• References for quoted and cited material formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style or AMA Manual of Style, with the endnotes in numerical order.

File format/name

Please save the submission as a Word document by the author’s last name followed by the title (or abbreviated title).

For the article “Big Hugh” by Dr. Smith, save as follows:

Smith_Big Hugh.doc

Image guidelines

Please include at least one image that complements the article being submitted. Final image choice will be determined by journal staff.  Rights to images must be acquired by the author prior to submission.

Images must be:

• High quality and saved as a .JPG
• Titled by author’s surname and short article name. For example, an image to accompany the article “Big Hugh” by Dr. Smith would be saved as follows:  Smith_Big Hugh.jpg  Add a number at the end to distinguish additional image e.g., Smith_Big Hugh2.jpg
• Caption and source (including address of website where you found the image)
• For artwork, please provide the title and date of work, the artist’s name, and the location of the artwork (museum or private collection)
• The caption should be sent as a Word document by author last name. In the example of Dr. Smith, the illustration would be captioned as follows:  Smith_Caption.doc

Be sure you have the rights to any images prior to including it with your submission

Who should submit?

We welcome submissions from health professionals, students, and scholars of the humanities and social sciences. We also encourage patients to contribute pieces that reflect their experiences or perspectives on healing and health.

Where do we publish?

Accepted articles will be published on a rolling basis and included in their appropriate sections and New Arrivals. Winning articles and finalists will be featured in a future issue of Hektoen International .

Articles may also be publicized in our regular e-newsletter and across Hektoen International ’s social media outlets, including Twitter and Facebook .

We DO NOT accept clinical studies

Patient Consent/Confidentiality

Our confidentiality policy is based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Please refer to this document if you have any questions: http://www.hhs.gov/hippa/for-professionals/privacy/index.html . Authors/artists should protect the confidentiality of all persons and not reveal personal details without their consent.

Review process

The editorial board and the journal editors review contributions for appropriateness of originality, style, and content. All reviewers and editors advise the Editor-in-Chief, who makes the final decision on publication.

Authors retain the copyright to their submissions to Hektoen International. We request, however, that authors refrain from submitting their work for publication for four months after the piece has been published. Authors are requested to notify us and reference the Hektoen International website as the original publisher in subsequent publications of the article.

All submissions are presumed to be the stated author/artist’s original work. Authors are responsible for procuring the right to accompanying images.

THE HEKTOEN INTERNATIONAL 2021 GRAND PRIX CLOSED SEPTEMBER 15th AT 12PM (NOON). 

This form is checked manually on weekdays, during business hours, excluding holidays and weekends. You will not receive an automatic response. Please wait one week before querying about missing submissions through this form. 

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