Enter the Untold Global Health Stories of 2020 Contest

Do you know an important global health story that’s been overlooked by the media and deserves special notice? 

NPR’s "Goats and Soda" blog, which covers global health and development, the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) and Global Health NOW from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are pleased to announce the 2020 Untold Stories of Global Health Contest. The contest is designed to give a platform to important but underreported global health stories. 

CUGH, NPR’s Goats and Soda Blog, and GHN share the goal of raising awareness about health issues around the world. We invite you to nominate an issue you feel deserves urgent attention, whether you’ve worked on it firsthand or come across it in your travels. The best nominations for the Untold Stories focus on a specific issue in a specific location (i.e., not global chronic disease) and should include available data and evidence, as well as contact information. 

Nominations
Send us your ideas, and if we choose your issue, we’ll help you expand the audience for your issue. Submit your nomination here, with a short (150-word) statement describing the story and why it deserves more coverage and support. 

Contest Rules
Click here to see the Contest Rules.

Important Dates
Submissions Open – July 31, 2019
REVISED Nominations Deadline – October 15, 2019
Judging Complete – October 30, 2019
Winners Notified – Around November 15, 2019

Judging
The contest will be jointly judged by NPR’s Goats and Soda blog, CUGH and GHN, based on the entries’ newsworthiness, creativity and feasibility for coverage. 

Winners
NPR and GHN will each select one winning story to cover; the winning stories will appear in both NPR and GHN. At least 6 runners up will also be recognized. All winning entries will be shared on CUGH's website and bulletin.

NPR and GHN will consider and share the runners up entries as sources for possible stories for coverage. GHN will cover at least one runner-up idea as a story or series of stories in GHN.

Prizes

• The winner will be announced publicly at the CUGH conference taking place in Washington, DC, April 18-20, 2020.
• Runners-up will have short summaries included on the GHN website.
• The winners (maximum of 1 nominee per entry) will receive free registration for the CUGH conference. 

Previous Winners
The winners of the 2019 Untold Global Health Stories Contest, chosen by Global Health NOW of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, NPR's Goats and Soda blog, and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health was Improving Autism Diagnosis in Turkey, submitted by Hikmet Ceyhun Göcenoğlu—to be covered by Global Health NOW—and the Impact of Light on the Quality of Care that Health Workers Deliver, proposed by Beth Ann Eanelli—to be covered by NPR’s Goats and Soda blog. (Learn more about the winning entries here.)

The winners of the 2018 Untold Global Health Stories Contest, chosen by Global Health NOW of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, NPR's Goats and Soda blog, and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health was hemophilia in developing countries, submitted by Chris Bombardier—to be covered by Global Health NOW—and the recruitment of children in Colombia for cocaine production, proposed by Athena Madan—to be covered by NPR’s Goats and Soda blog. (Learn more about the winning entries here.)

The winner of the 2017 Untold Global Health Stories Contest, chosen by Global Health NOW of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, NPR's Goats and Soda blog, and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health was unintentional burns in Nepal, submitted by Emaline Laney, and deafness in developing countries, proposed by Christi Batamula and by Matthew Yau (Learn more here).

In 2016, the grand prize winner was infection-related cancers in the developing world, nominated by Susan Keown, a science writer from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, to be covered by NPR's Goats and Soda blog. A first-prize winner, to be covered by Global Health NOW, was chosen as well: the paralytic disease konzo, submitted by Desire Tshala-Katumbay, of Oregon Health & Science University, who has worked extensively in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). You can read more about last year's winners on Global Health NOW's website. GHN sent writer Amy Maxmen to DRC to cover the story, resulting in the special series Bitter Harvest: Cassava and Konzo, the Crippling Disease.

In 2015, the grand price untold story was the chronic inflammatory disease mycetoma. Amy Maxmen went to Sudan to cover the story for GHN, leading to a 3-part series titled The Most Neglected Disease, published in December 2015.

About the Sponsors

About NPR's Goats and Soda Blog:
NPR launched Goats and Soda in 2014 to cover thought-provoking and under-reported stories related to health. As NPR's global health and development blog, Goats and Soda tells stories of life in our changing world, focusing on low- and middle-income countries.

About CUGH:
Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) builds interdisciplinary collaborations and facilitates the sharing of knowledge to address global health challenges. It assists members in sharing their expertise across education, research, and service. It is dedicated to creating equity and reducing health disparities everywhere. CUGH promotes mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships between universities in resource-rich and resource-poor countries, developing human capital and strengthening institutions' capabilities to address these challenges. It is committed to translating knowledge into action. 

About Global Health NOW: 
Global Health NOW from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is a free news service designed to inform the global health agenda, delivering the day’s most interesting and essential news every weekday. We aggregate and summarize the latest global health news, and publish original news stories and commentaries with leading global health experts. Subscribe to Global Health NOW for free: www.globalhealthnow.org/subscribe