Key Dates

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Purpose

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) announces a Prize Competition to solicit entries for the Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! 2025 Challenge. The objective of this Challenge is to reward and spur innovative approaches to effectively communicate with others and to educate people about all rare diseases in a collective manner through communication vehicles that can be easily disseminated. 

The goals of this challenge are to (1) raise awareness for all rare diseases and the people they affect in a collective manner, (2) highlight the need for cross-cutting research and development of new treatments using multi-disease models and (3) increase meaningful engagement with the rare disease community.

NCATS is seeking innovative ways to communicate with others and educate the public about rare diseases through art disseminated on various platforms by means of changing the way we think about the problem, the way we fund and do research – Ultimately making rare disease drug development more efficient, bringing attention to rare diseases so that they can gain more medical research interest and support, thereby improving lives. 

The anticipated Challenge Announcement/Launch Date is September 2025. 

Background:

There are more than 10,000 known rare diseases and only a few hundred have safe, effective treatments. In the United States, rare diseases affect millions of people. Some difficulties with rare diseases are that they are hard to recognize, are often hidden conditions, and most do not currently have ongoing medical research.

This Challenge seeks to bring attention to the importance of rare diseases research and specifically increasing the development of treatment strategies for addressing multiple rare diseases at a time. For example, leveraging commonalities among rare diseases to highlight innovative treatment pathways. Science, especially genetic medicine, has moved forward to the point now where treatments are possible such as gene therapies, 3-D printing (devices, tissues, and organs), and new drugs. Everyone deserves a chance at an effective medical treatment whether for a common disease or a rare one so let’s get the word out!

This would be the third iteration of the NCATS Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! Challenge. The first challenge (2018) centered around a theme of raising awareness that rare diseases, though individually rare, are collectively common, impacting 10% of our population. The second challenge (2020) centered around the same theme with the added component of building and fostering collaborations across the community. This Challenge would build upon the past challenges’ theme of raising awareness of rare diseases, but through a new focus on developing treatment strategies for addressing multiple rare diseases at a time through targeted approaches. The Challenge title and theme are inspired by the messaging centered around cancer. People often address cancers collectively instead of individually, like lymphoma, leukemia, melanoma, etc. In the rare diseases space, historically, research and messaging have been approached by one single disease at a time. We hope that through this Challenge’s theme, we can get the public to think about rare diseases collectively instead of by individual diseases.

Prize Competition Details:

Help us bring attention to the importance of rare diseases research and specifically increasing the development of treatment strategies for addressing multiple rare diseases at a time. For example, leveraging commonalities among rare diseases to highlight innovative treatment pathways. Use any digital communication vehicle you choose—be as creative and original as possible. Here are examples of appropriate communication vehicles:

• music video
• song (with or without sheet music)
• dramatic reading
• poem
• painting
• poster
• comic
• animation
• photo/collage
• info graphic

Here are a few facts to consider:

• There are more than 10,000 known rare diseases.
• In the Unites States, rare diseases affect millions of people.
• Rare diseases often are difficult to diagnose – it can take on average 6-8 years and, in some cases, even longer.
• Even after an accurate diagnosis, treatment often is not available because approximately 5% of rare diseases have FDA-approved treatments.
• Drug development strategies developed for one disease can be applied to research in other diseases in various ways. Some strategies include:
  • Targeting similar disease mechanisms: Researchers can adapt the approach to target the same or similar biological pathways in different diseases, reusing key elements such as biomarkers or cellular responses.
  • Translational Research: Existing individual approaches, such as those used for drug discovery or preclinical trials, can be applied to other diseases by testing existing drugs on different diseases and repurposing treatments.
  • Cross-Disease and/or Innovative Clinical Trial Models: Some aspects of clinical trials designed for specific diseases can be adapted for use in other diseases or include other diseases.
  • Organ-Specific Approaches: Information from diseases that impact a specific organ (e.g., liver, brain, heart) can be adapted to other diseases affecting that organ.
  • Collaborative Research Networks: Interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers from different disease areas can lead to the development of shared models such as standardized protocols and open-access databases and repositories.
• Many common diseases are actually collections of several different rare diseases that affect people in a similar way. For example, “Cancer” is a collection of hundreds of diseases, even though it is often referred to by just one easily recognizable word

Each individual, team or entity may submit only one (1) entry and are limited to two (2) minutes in duration.

Note: You must not use the logo or official seal of HHS nor the logo of NIH or NCATS in the entries, and entries must not claim federal government endorsement.

This Challenge is being led by the NCATS Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation.

Dates:

• Challenge Launch: September 15, 2025
• Submission Start/End: September 15, 2025 –January 2, 2026
• Judging Start/End: January 5, 2026 – February 2, 2026
• Winners Announced: February 2026

Prize:

NCATS will award a total of $5,000 to the Challenge winner(s) in cash prizes, comprised of one First Place Prize of $3,000, one Second Place Prize of $1,500, and one Third Place Prize of $500. In addition, up to five Honorable Mentions will be recognized and posted on NCATS’s website with the Challenge winners.

The challenge announcement will be posted on www.Challenge.gov.

Evaluation and Judging:

All submissions that are responsive and meet the Eligibility Rules and Submission Requirements will be evaluated and scored by qualified expert employees of the federal government using the criteria and scoring rubric described above.

The Judging Panel will select winners based on the evaluation scores. The selected winners will be submitted to the Award Approving Official for a final decision. NIH will not make participants’ evaluation or judging results available to participants or the public.

Submitting a Response:

Please format submissions using the application instructions on www.challenge.gov and submit by email to [email protected] by the submission deadline. Use any format you choose and be as creative and original as possible.

Each submission for this Challenge requires a complete Submission Package. The Submission Package includes a Registration Form, Cover Letter, the Communication Vehicle and, when appropriate, participant consent forms.

For full details about eligibility requirements, competition rules, and instructions for submissions, please consult www.Challenge.gov.

Entries must be submitted by email to [email protected] by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on January 2, 2026.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Meera Shah, MPH
Program Lead
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Email: [email protected]