NYF Health names Human Lens co-chairs and jury

New York Festivals Health Awards has launched a new Human Lens: The Lived Experience specialty jury for its 2026 competition, with Jordan and Anna Rathkopf serving as co-chairs. The category is meant to recognize healthcare storytelling shaped by patients, caregivers and communities, not just about them.

Why it matters: - New York Festivals Health is adding a category that rewards healthcare storytelling built with people who have lived the experience. - The move puts patient, caregiver and community voice closer to the center of advertising and advocacy work. - The category could influence how healthcare campaigns are conceived, reviewed and judged across the industry.

What happened: - New York Festivals Health Awards announced the inaugural Human Lens: The Lived Experience Specialty Jury for 2026. - Jordan and Anna Rathkopf, co-founders of RATHKOPF, will serve as co-chairs. - The Rathkopfs will lead review of entries that place lived experience at the center of healthcare storytelling. - The category is new for 2026 and sits within the New York Festivals Health Awards program.

The details: - Human Lens: The Lived Experience honors healthcare storytelling in health and wellness and pharmaceutical advertising. - The category recognizes work where lived experience shapes the creative process from strategy and ideation through production and beyond. - New York Festivals Health said it is looking for stories made with people, not simply about them. - The jury includes creative leaders, patient advocates, storytellers and social impact experts. - Jury members include Anneliese Barron of Lea Pictures, Glenn Batkin, Walter T. Geer III, Jana Jarosz of OLIXIR New York, Clay MacGuire of 21Grams, Dina Peck of The Narratology Lab, Elyse Spatz Caplan, and Eason Yang of Not Entirely Dead. - The Specialty Jury will review shortlisted entries through final judging. - Jennifer Vizina, executive director of the New York Festivals Health Awards, said the category recognizes a shift in healthcare storytelling that puts real people and their lived experiences at the center. - The 2026 NYF Health Executive Juries, Specialty Juries and soon-to-be-announced Shortlist Juries will guide judging across the competition. - New York Festivals said the judging process will be handled with rigor and respect for the work.

Between the lines: - The category reflects a broader push in healthcare marketing toward authenticity, empathy and patient partnership. - By rewarding process as well as output, New York Festivals is signaling that who helps shape the work matters, not just the final campaign. - The jury mix suggests the competition wants both creative judgment and lived-experience credibility in the same room.

What's next: - The Specialty Jury will begin reviewing shortlisted entries and select the work that best matches the Human Lens vision. - The official entry deadline for the 2026 NYF Health Awards is September 23, with a final deadline of Oct. 22. - More information on rules, categories and entry details is available in the competition information.

The bottom line: - NYF Health is formalizing a new standard for healthcare storytelling: give people with lived experience a real role in shaping the work, not just appearing in it.