LymeX Visible Voices Prize 2026: Educational Resources for Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Diagnosis

LymeX Visible Voices Prize 2026: Educational Resources for Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Diagnosis

The LymeX Visible Voices Prize was a completed federal prize competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the LymeX Innovation Accelerator. It asked participants to create clear, trusted educational resources about Lyme and tickborne disease diagnosis, with patient, caregiver, clinician, and community experience at the center of the work. This page is a historical reference for the 2026 cycle. The official materials publish the July 31, 2026 submission deadline, followed by an August 1–30, 2026 evaluation period. They do not announce a later cycle or invite submissions after that window.

The program was not a conventional research grant. HHS described it as a national challenge conducted under the America COMPETES Act and HHS challenge rules. Its purpose was to reward useful public-facing work, not to provide financial assistance through a grant budget. Participants kept ownership of their work, while the rules required rights-cleared submissions and granted HHS broad nonexclusive rights to reproduce, publish, display, share, and use submitted materials. The official page also says that submitted entries may be shared publicly under Creative Commons licenses.

2026 cycle at a glance

The prize structure explains the amount in the front matter. HHS could award one Grand Prize of $50,000, five Excellence Prizes of $20,000 each, and ten Impact Awards of $10,000 each. That adds up to a possible $250,000 in cash prizes across up to 16 winning submissions. HHS reserved discretion not to award some or all prizes if submissions did not meet the published criteria or performance thresholds. A participant could receive only one cash prize, even if a submission qualified for more than one category. HHS and the LymeX Innovation Accelerator could also provide nonmonetary recognition such as certificates, challenge coins, or honorable mentions.

What the competition sought

The central problem was the difficulty many people face when trying to understand Lyme and other tickborne disease diagnoses. The official description points to limited awareness, evolving testing options, and communication gaps. It asked participants to turn lived experience and emerging science into materials that people could understand and use without specialized training.

Applicants had to choose a clear challenge area. The four published areas were Diagnostics Information and Resources, Provider-Facing Educational Materials, Patient Education Tools, and Community-Informed Insights. A strong entry therefore needed a defined audience and a specific information gap. It was not enough to submit a general Lyme awareness campaign or a research concept without a usable educational product.

The requested work could explain what Lyme or tickborne disease tests measure, how tests differ, and what their limitations are. It could help frontline providers communicate with patients using evidence-based information. It could help patients understand symptoms, testing pathways, and possible next steps. It could also document lived experiences and translate them into actionable insights about gaps in the diagnostic journey.

The official judging framework had four equally weighted criteria, with five points available for each. Practical Impact for the Target Audience assessed whether the resource addressed a meaningful diagnostic information gap in a real-world context. Clarity and Usability over Complexity assessed structure, accessibility, actionability, and ease of use. Lived Experience and Authenticity assessed whether patient, caregiver, or clinician perspectives meaningfully shaped the resource. Data over Dogma assessed responsible treatment of testing limitations, uncertainty, emerging science, and supporting evidence from federal sources and peer-reviewed literature.

Eligibility and important restrictions

The published rules allowed eligible U.S. citizens and U.S. organizations to participate. An individual registering as part of a group had to be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years old at the time of submission. A private entity had to be incorporated in the United States and maintain its primary place of business there. Participants also had to register as a team or entity and satisfy the HHS Challenge Participant Registration Form and other challenge requirements.

Several exclusions were explicit. A federal entity or a federal employee acting within the scope of employment could not win a prize. An HHS employee acting in a personal capacity was also excluded. A federal employee working for another federal agency had to consult that agency’s ethics official to determine whether federal ethics rules limited or prohibited accepting a prize. Judges, people involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the challenge, and specified immediate family members were not eligible.

The rules also limited how a submission could be developed. Participants could not use federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop a submission or support submission work. Federal contractors could not use federal contract funds for those activities either. The work had to be original or submitted with appropriate rights, and participants had to warrant that the material did not infringe rights known to the participant. The rules were designed for public educational use, so teams needed to be comfortable with public sharing and the license granted to HHS.

The prize was not described as restricted project funding. HHS stated that it was seeking to reward innovation rather than provide financial assistance and that it did not limit how winners used prize funds. Prize payments could be subject to federal income taxes. Entities were encouraged, but not required, to obtain a free Unique Entity ID through SAM.gov because it could help with payment administration.

What a 2026 submission required

The application was completed through the official LymeX Visible Voices Prize challenge platform. The first step was to create an account and select “Register.” The participant then had to register as a team or entity and complete the HHS Challenge Participant Registration Form. The official instructions identify that form as mandatory for eligibility verification and prize payment. A platform account by itself was not enough.

The entry had three main parts. The first was a team and synopsis section. It requested a team name of three to seven words, a motto of up to 14 words, an elevator pitch of up to 50 words beginning with why, and an abstract of no more than 200 words explaining the problem and the value of the proposed resource.

The second part was one finalized, public-facing educational resource intended for immediate real-world use. The participant selected the resource type, defined the target audience and the importance of the gap in no more than 100 words, explained alignment with the four judging criteria in no more than 200 words, and supplied citations. The cited material had to come from federal government sources such as HHS, NIH, CDC, FDA, or other .gov/.mil sources, together with peer-reviewed literature where used. The official instructions requested AP Style for citations.

The accepted formats covered static visual materials, digital image content, web or interface designs, audio, video, and interactive digital tools or applications. Static visuals, digital images, and web or interface designs were limited to two pages in the listed examples. Audio was limited to three minutes and needed a transcript. Video was limited to three minutes and needed captions. Interactive tools could be represented by a URL or a functional application. Regardless of format, the work had to be understandable to its intended audience without specialized training.

The third part was team composition. The team had to explain how members’ lived experience informed the concept, content, and design, and list at least five team members with their connection to Lyme disease, such as patient, caregiver, advocate, health care provider, researcher, or another specified connection. The official instructions also required identification of a Team Leader matching the HHS registration form.

Submission and review timeline

The official timeline lists May 2026 for the website launch and May 29, 2026 for the prize launch. The submission period ran from May 29, 2026 to July 31, 2026. The closing time was July 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The published evaluation period ran from August 1, 2026 through August 30, 2026, with winners notified in September 2026 and winners announced in late 2026.

Because the deadline has passed, the historical status matters for readers. This page should not be read as an open call, and the application checklist above is provided to document what the 2026 cycle required rather than to suggest that a late submission can still be filed. The official materials reviewed for this update do not publish a replacement deadline, rolling intake, extension, or next cycle. HHS reserved the right to revise, extend, or otherwise adjust milestone dates, but the published materials do not state that it did so for this cycle.

Why this page remains useful

The 2026 competition is a useful reference for organizations planning future public-health challenge entries, even though this cycle is closed. It shows the level of specificity expected: a single audience, a defined diagnostic communication problem, a finished public-facing resource, a clear evidence trail, and a team with relevant lived experience. It also demonstrates the difference between a prize competition and a grant. A team would not prepare a conventional research proposal or a line-item budget in place of the requested educational artifact.

For future opportunities with a similar structure, prospective participants can use the archived requirements as a preparation checklist: confirm the official eligibility rules, identify the team leader and participant type, secure rights to every asset, choose a format that fits the time and accessibility requirements, and ask a non-specialist reader to test the resource. Diagnostic information should be carefully contextualized, especially when explaining testing limitations or uncertainty. The official rules make clear that submissions are educational and informational, not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations.

Readers should check the official HHS or NIH challenge page and the LymeX program site before relying on any future announcement. This archive records the verified 2026 cycle and its July 31, 2026 deadline; it does not claim that a subsequent LymeX Visible Voices Prize has been announced.