Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! 2025 Challenge

The Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! 2025 Challenge is a nationwide creative competition led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a center within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Designed to raise awareness and accelerate the development of treatment strategies for rare diseases, this challenge invites artists, researchers, advocates, and creative thinkers to engage with one powerful message: rare diseases are not rare. With more than 10,000 known rare diseases affecting millions across the United States, NCATS seeks to broaden public understanding and drive collaborative, cross-disease approaches to research and therapy. This competition builds upon the success of previous RDANR! challenges in 2018 and 2020, which resulted in diverse, impactful communication tools—such as poetry, spoken word, videos, infographics, and posters—that helped reframe rare disease awareness. Despite these advances, the rare disease landscape still faces fragmentation, with many conditions approached as isolated issues. The 2025 Challenge aims to shift this perception by emphasizing the shared mechanisms among rare diseases and their potential for collective treatment solutions. Entrants are encouraged to communicate these themes creatively and effectively to a broad audience. Submissions may take any form of digital creative media, including music videos, poems, posters, paintings, songs, animations, and infographics. Each entry should be no more than two minutes in length if recorded and must adhere to strict submission rules: federal logos may not be used, and entries must not imply federal endorsement. Participants may only submit one entry, either as individuals, teams, or organizations. NCATS strongly encourages collaborative entries that unite different stakeholders—such as patients and scientists or advocates across different disease areas—as these may receive bonus points in judging. Prizes will total $5,000 in cash, including a $3,000 first-place award, $1,500 for second place, and $500 for third place. Up to five honorable mentions may also be selected and featured on the NCATS website. Judging will be based on four main criteria: creativity, how well the entry communicates rare diseases collectively (not individually), relevance to treatment strategy development, and effectiveness in reaching a broad audience. Judging will take place from January 5 to February 2, 2026, with winners announced on February 21, 2026. The submission portal opened on September 15, 2025. All entries must be received by January 2, 2026 at 6:00 PM Eastern Time. Submissions must be emailed to [email protected] and include a completed registration form, a one-page cover letter explaining the concept and approach, and the final creative work. The cover letter must address how the submission encourages cross-disease treatment strategies, the rationale behind the communication method chosen, the intended audience, and any unique collaboration that shaped the work. NCATS administers this challenge under the authority of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act [15 U.S.C. § 3719]. The initiative aligns with NCATS’ broader mission to speed the delivery of therapies to patients through better translational science, collaborative frameworks, and strategic use of communication and outreach tools. For questions, the public may contact the NCATS Challenge Prize Competitions staff at [email protected].

Must address rare diseases collectively or risk disqualification; originality and collaboration earn bonus points.