Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest

2026 Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2026 Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest.

Using the quote below as inspiration, medical, nursing, and psychology students are asked to reflect on humanism in healthcare, drawing from their experiences as an individual or as a member of a healthcare team (doctors, nurses, therapists, patients and families, etc.). Stories about the experience of family and friends are also accepted.

Deadline: March 16, 2026

2026 Essay Prompt

Using the following quote, reflect on an experience in any healthcare setting where you or another healthcare team member worked to put the person at the center of care.

“Face-to-face conversation is the most human—and humanizing—thing we do. Fully present to one another, we learn to listen. It’s where we develop the capacity for empathy. It’s where we experience the joy of being heard, of being understood.” — Sherry Turkle, PhD

Criteria

Submissions may not exceed 1,000 words.

Judges will be looking for essays that directly respond to this year’s prompt and connect strongly to the Gold Foundation’s mission of humanism in healthcare for all. Winning essays will illuminate how the human connection can make a meaningful difference in care.

This contest is highly competitive. Before submitting, please carefully review your essay, considering the following criteria that will be used to select winners:
  • Reflects the contest prompt and resonates with the mission of the Gold Foundation
  • Narrative content (the piece is compelling, thought-provoking, and/or elicits a strong emotional response by the reader)
  • Demonstrates strong writing style (grammar, spelling, structure, etc)

The essay contest is open to medical students at accredited schools of medicine in the U.S. and Canada and nursing students at AACN member schools. Students at international medical schools that have a Gold Humanism Honors Society (GHHS) chapter are also eligible. Find more information under Eligibility.

Terms and Conditions

By submitting an essay, you agree to abide by the following:

  1. I am committed to protecting the right to privacy of patients and others. I have changed names where applicable, and have omitted or altered other identifying characteristics of individuals and contexts within my essay.
  2. I verify that this essay meets the ethical and HIPAA requirements of my educational institution and that I have obtained any necessary permissions to submit this essay.
  3. I grant The Arnold P. Gold Foundation permission to publish all or parts of my essay on their website, in Academic Medicine, the Journal of Professional Nursing, the Journal of Health Service Psychology, or another academic journal, and in other venues to promote the Essay contest.
  4. I signify that I am the sole author of this essay, that I have written all sentences myself and that no sentences were written by AI, that all sources of information have been properly acknowledged, and that it has not been published elsewhere.
  5. I signify that I will not submit this essay simultaneously to other contests or publications.
  6. If my essay should win the Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest, I will postpone any further publication routes until the essay has first appeared in (as applicable) Academic Medicine, published by the Association of American Medical Colleges; the Journal of Professional Nursing, published by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and/or the Journal of Health Service Psychology, published by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. Any subsequent publication shall include a note listing that the essay was originally published in [list relevant journals] as a winner of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Dr. Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest.
  7. The Gold Foundation reserves the right to disallow essays based on editorial, ethical or other considerations.