Nurses, nurses’ aides, and nursing students are encouraged to submit an essay to Hektoen International’s 2024–2025 nurse writing contest. Submissions will be initially reviewed by the Hektoen International Editorial Staff, followed by a panel of nursing professionals, who will determine the recipients of the following awards:

Grand Prize: Single winner of $3,000
Runner-Up: Single winner of $2,000

Winners will be published in the journal and featured in our newsletter and on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn.

Essays must be between 500–1,600 words and on any topic as it relates to medicine, including:

• Art
• History
• Literature
• Education
• Music
• Science
• Famous healthcare workers
• Famous hospitals

Original poetry, fiction, and standalone artwork will not be considered. Before submitting an article, please search for your topic on our site to see that it has not been fully covered in a previous publication. Essays on previously published subjects will not be accepted. For possible topic categories, see our Sections.

Authors will receive notice of receipt of submission.

All submissions due by January 15, 2025.
Late submissions will not be considered.
Contest submissions should be sent to [email protected] or via the form below.
Participants must certify that their work is original.
Participants must have copyright ownership or permission to use any images submitted.

Guidelines

• Submission of an article implies consent to publish in Hektoen International. If major edits are made, proofs will be sent to the author before publication.
• Inquiries about the contest should be sent to [email protected].
• Single-author essays only; multiple authors on one article are not allowed.
• Entries must be written in English and follow our article guidelines, including a cover page and proper formatting of both text and illustrations. Incomplete submissions may be deemed ineligible for consideration in the contest.
• Submissions will be read by Hektoen International’s editors and contest judges. They will review contributions for appropriateness, originality, style, and content.
• Submissions are processed on weekdays during business hours. Please check your email for confirmation of your submission. Please wait one week before inquiring about the reception of your article if you do not receive a confirmation email.
• Articles and the images within them may also be publicized via our newsletter, which is currently received by 30,000+ subscribers, and on our social media platforms.

Articles

Articles must be unpublished, original work, saved as a Word document by the author’s last name followed by the title (or abbreviated title). For example, the article “Big Hugh” by Dr. Smith, should be saved as Smith_Big Hugh.docx. Each submission should include:

• A cover page with:
  • Author’s name, titles/degrees, professional affiliation, email address, and location (as you would like these listed in the journal)
  • A biography no longer than 100 words, written in the third person, that includes your current educational status and future educational/career goals. See the bottom of our articles for examples.

• Submissions must also have the following formatting:
  • 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 according to the Chicago Manual of Style 17^th Edition (chicagomanualofstyle.org) or the American Medical Association Manual of Style 11^th Edition (academic.oup.com/amamanualofstyle/book/27941)
  • References for quoted and cited material formatted according to Vancouver, Chicago, or AMA style, with the endnotes in numerical order.

Images

Articles may include images. If you provide an image, review and follow the guidelines below prior to submission.

• Final image choice will be determined by journal staff.
• Rights to use and publish images in Hektoen International must be acquired by the author prior to submission, either via a source’s declaration the images are in the public domain or under a Creative Commons or similar license, or by obtaining permission from the copyright holder(s) of the images. For more information, see https://guides.library.stonybrook.edu/copyright/public-domain or contact us at [email protected].
• Images must be high quality and saved as a .JPG
• Images must be 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 Smith_Big Hugh.jpg. Add a number at the end to distinguish additional images (e.g., Smith_Big Hugh2.jpg).
• Images must be accompanied by a caption. In a separate Word document entitled “Caption” with the following information:
  • Caption, source, and permission/copyright/licensing information (including the address of the 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)
  • Save the caption as a Word document by author last name. In the example of Dr. Smith, the illustration would be captioned as Smith_Caption.docx.
  • Caption example: Spock Behind G.W. Library. Photo by Warren K. Leffler, October 15, 1969. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication.

General Guidelines for All Submissions

We DO NOT accept clinical studies
All submissions should be the stated author/artist’s original work
Authors are responsible for obtaining publication rights for accompanying images

Patient Consent/Confidentiality

Our confidentiality policy is based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Please refer here if you have any questions: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/. Authors/artists should protect the confidentiality of all persons and not reveal personal details without their consent.

Copyright (©) and Plagiarism

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 in our journal. Authors are requested to notify us and reference the Hektoen International website as the original publisher in subsequent publications of the article.

By submitting your work to us via Forminator or by email for consideration for publication, you consent to the scanning of your work by third-party plagiarism checker programs along with, on a case-by-case basis, research by our staff of your publication history to ensure the work published in our journal is original. By performing these checks, we protect our reputation as well as your own.

Plagiarism is, in its simplest wording, claiming someone else’s work as your own. When you submit work or portions of a work that you yourself did not write, without giving credit to its original author, that is plagiarism. Plagiarism ranges from copying another’s entire publication to rewording portions and ideas from another’s publication without a citation.

We also acknowledge the concept of self-plagiarism, in which you republish work you have already written without permission from the copyright holder. Examples of self-plagiarism include: you submit an article to us that was already published in another journal without that journal’s permission; you draw information and/or concepts from an article you wrote that is already published elsewhere without citing that article in your submission.​

Submissions are processed on weekdays during business hours. Please check your email (including junk or spam) for confirmation of your submission. If form is unavailable, please submit to [email protected]. Please only submit via each method once and allow 5 business days before inquiring about missing submissions. Thank you!