The 2025 5th Annual Drs. Theresa and Charles Yeo Writing Prize Call for Submissions for Evanescent:
"We must turn toward developing practices to create, find, feel, and allow joy into our lives and movements for social change.... We must center joy and feeling in our process if we are to maintain our energy and our work.”
-Healer and activist michelle cassandra johnson
We as humans contain multitudes. In the heavier moments in life, the best way to move ourselves through is to intentionally engage in joy. This is especially important for people involved in activism and communities under duress. Joy is one way to nourish ourselves in life.
This topic is dear to our hearts: intentionally cultivating joy. Redefining what joy looks and feels like in life and how to create it and experience it: singing and dancing, drinking chai, deep breathing on a hike, laughing at jokes with friends, solitude. The Eakins Writing Council invites you to consider all the ways you have and feel joy in your life.
May diving into this writing practice bring you deep waves of joy!
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Consider the following questions and then engage with the prompts below as a starting point for identifying where and how you experience joy. Then tell us about it in poetry or prose.
- What brings you joy? Why? How?
- Do you find joy or make it?
- Why is joy important?
- Describe the effects of joy on physical, mental and/or spiritual well-being?
Categories
Natural world
Nature is a vast thing of which Humanity is only one element. When we take time to observe or immerse ourselves in nature, there is much to be gained. Joy can take the form of exhilaration in one’s own intuitive sense of place in nature, observation of natural phenomena, or immersion and interaction with plants, animals and environment.
Creativity & Intentionality
When we see prehistoric cave paintings, we can’t help but be faced with humanity’s eternal need to create and express emotion. No matter the emotion explored, there’s a joy inherent to the act of creation itself. Whether searching for new thrilling horizons or plumbing the depths of the inner world to innovate and bring something new to our shared reality, many joyful journeys start from a spark of creativity.
Seeking joy
“Those who wish to sing will always find a song.” (Swedish proverb). Sometimes joy is something we experience as a happy accident, something that happens to us. But often joy is something we seek. We pursue and cultivate moments of joy in our professional and personal lives. This pursuit of joy might be characterized by curiosity, self-discovery, and intentionality. Seeking joy reminds us that no matter our circumstances, we can always find opportunities to sing.
Spirituality
Spirituality is inevitable and is hardly ever stagnant throughout our lifespan. How has your spiritual journey shaped your purpose in life? Where does joy figure into spirituality? What is the relationship between joy and wonder?
Joy in the body
The crisp bite of an apple, the soft caress of a breeze, or a full body sensation of swimming in the sea; for many, joy is experienced and expressed through the body. When we think about what brings us joy, it’s our physical senses that often ground us in that feeling, and as that feeling goes, it can burst into movement and action. For an abstract concept, our bodies make joy a tangible thing to grasp.
Connections & Community
Strolling in the park in Philadelphia, I stopped to watch a cloud of goldfinches feeding on tall sunflowers in the park. Within minutes, several other passersby had joined me, and we shared the moment. One person was moved to say, “This made my day!” The people in our lives and your connections to them may be deep or fleeting, but they can touch us either way. Consider how community or connection to others brings you joy.
Joy as antidote
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Joy is that warm secure sense of well-being for which we strive in life’s journey. It is this constant quest for joy that gives us the resilience and courage to carry on. In this process we learn mission and purpose. And we find gratitude for the road already traveled and hope for the journey yet to come.
Submission Information
We invite you to submit stories, poems, or essays for consideration. Everyone has a unique voice, and we want to hear from as many of you as possible. Cash prizes will be awarded as follows: $2000 for first place, $1000 for second place, and $500 for third place.
All submissions to the Yeo Writing Prize also will be considered for publication in the next issue of Evanescent: A Journal of Literary Medicine. We also encourage original works of art (photography, drawings, paintings, digital art) for the next issue of Evanescent (though only works of writing will be considered eligible for the Yeo Prize).
The deadline for submission is Wednesday December 31, 2025 at 11:59pm. Submissions for the contest should not exceed 2,500 words. Word docs encouraged (NO PDFs). Please do not include your name, department, or any other identifying information in the submitted writing. Enter this information as prompted in the submission form only. All submissions of prose or poetry must have a title at the time of submission. To be considered for the Prize, you must have an affiliation with the Jefferson community (patient, caregiver, community partner, student, volunteer, staff). Limit one entry per person. The spirit of the Prize is to encourage and stimulate new writing in response to the prompts. With that in mind, unfortunately we cannot accept submissions of previously published essays.
Click here to read previous issues of Evanescent:
https://www.jefferson.edu/academics/colleges-schools-institutes/skmc/departments/surgery/eakins-project/evanescent.html