MPH Students

Register for the 2025 Health Messaging for Justice Student Competition

The Lerner Center is hosting a health messaging competition and all MSPH students are invited to enter! The competition will showcase the work of our students by highlighting how health communications can be used as a powerful tool to enhance social and environmental justice. 

Students (1-4 students per submission) will be asked to develop a health communication product (e.g. video, data visualizations, social media posts, podcast, poster, etc) designed to reduce stigma, enhance social or environmental justice, and/or counteract racism. Students will also create eight pre-formatted slides that answer specific questions about their project. Finalists will be chosen using the following criteria: effective messaging, creativity/innovation, design/aesthetics, public health impact and relevance, the potential for dissemination, adherence to the project guidelines, and potential ability to inform stigma reduction, social justice, or anti-racism efforts. See Project Guidelines.

Watch our virtual Q&A session to learn more.

Submissions are due on March 25th 2025 by 5pm. First, second and third place prizes will be awarded. 1st place team: $1000; 2nd place team: $750; 3rd place team: $500

To register, please email the name(s)/department(s) of your group members to Azure Nowara aen2129@columbia.edu.

Congratulations to our 2024 Health Messaging for Justice winners!

On April 12th, the Lerner Center announced the first, second and third place winners of the 2024 Health Messaging for Justice Student Competition. The three outstanding student teams then presented their health messaging materials to the Mailman community. You can watch the presentations here. Congratulations to our student winners!

First place:

Health, Happiness and Life: A Guide for Expectant Black Mothers in NYC  by Jazmyne Bullock, Courtney George, Ugomma Korie & Megan Spinella

Product: Podcast (coming soon!)

Second place:

Mapping Mutual Aid: Using GIS to Promote Health Equity in Buffalo, NY  by Kaiya John & Samina Rashiq

Product: Interactive map

Third place:

Desire Dialogues: A get to know you game for new sexual partners by Madison Moore

Product: Card game

This year, we received 13 submissions from students within five different departments. Health communication products included: documentary films, posters, magazine, e-book, card game, social media (FB, IG, TikTok), Zine, interactive map, fact sheet, podcast and short videos. We are so impressed with the student work. Thank you to our industry mentors, competition judges and student participants. 

View the HMJ 2023 Award Ceremony here.

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