The HOSA Health Literacy Ambassador event asks you to finish two online levels, create one project using MedlinePlus and present it to your peers. For 2026-27, activities count from June 1, 2026 through May 15, 2027, and your Level 2 presentation and supporting documents are now uploaded as one combined PDF.
A useful project starts with a question someone actually has. Your classmates might need help checking a claim they saw online or finding reliable information on a topic they care about. If you are preparing for a healthcare career, the project is also practice in the communication skills that IMA’s health literacy guide connects to clinical work: checking facts, explaining them clearly and listening when the first explanation does not land.
What the 2026-27 Guidelines Require
Read the HOSA Health Literacy Ambassador guidelines dated September 2026 before you plan anything. The event is open to the middle school, secondary and postsecondary/collegiate divisions, and it is an individual recognition event, so you complete and submit your own work even if you study alongside friends.
The steps run in this order:
- Complete the online Level 1 module. HOSA suggests a laptop or Chromebook because the module switches between two websites.
- Receive your Level 1 certificate and Level 2 instructions by email. HOSA recommends a personal email address, since many school accounts block outside organizations.
- Complete Level 2, a virtual escape room on the Deck Toys platform built around questions from MedlinePlus. You may work in a small group, but each member needs their own computer and submits for their own certificate.
- Create one project using MedlinePlus and present it at a HOSA chapter meeting or during class.
- Upload your Level 2 presentation and supporting documents as one combined PDF.
What Changed for 2026-27?
Two administrative changes matter most. HATS is no longer used to track activities for this event, and uploading the Level 2 presentation and supporting documents is now required. Keep the current guideline with your project files so you are not working from last year’s instructions.
Which Project Options Can You Choose?
The guidelines list five project types. You pick one:
- Educational posters to display in a local physician’s office
- An article submitted to your chartered association’s HOSA newsletter
- Educational materials handed out at a career fair, senior fair, diabetes clinic or hospital fair
- Patient handouts or supplemental information that healthcare professionals or employers can use
- A set of educational tips to share, such as proper handwashing, hydration or warning signs of heat illness
Choose a Problem You Can Explain Clearly
A strong first project teaches people one information skill rather than everything about a disease. You might show classmates how to examine a health claim before sharing it. That keeps you in the role of an educator and away from anything that sounds like diagnosis or treatment advice.
The National Library of Medicine’s guide to evaluating health information gives you a ready checklist. It asks who runs a website, what its purpose is, who pays for it, how content is selected and reviewed, where the information comes from, and whether pages show when they were written or updated. Apply those checks to your own materials as well as to the examples you discuss.
Keep your audience specific. “Ninth graders in one health science class” is a workable audience. “Everyone who needs health information” is too broad for a first project. Decide what you want someone to do differently after your presentation, then build everything around that one change.
Build a Project With a Clear Purpose
The table below is an optional planning aid, not an official HOSA scoring sheet. Adapt it with your chapter advisor.
| Planning question | Example decision |
|---|---|
| Who is the audience? | Students in one health science class |
| What problem will you address? | Sharing health tips without checking the source |
| Which project type fits? | A set of educational tips, built from MedlinePlus |
| How will you check accuracy? | Link each factual statement to a current MedlinePlus page |
| What feedback will you request? | Ask which instruction was unclear and why |
| What will you revise? | Replace vague wording and remove unsupported statements |
Set a narrow success measure. You could ask participants to find the source and date on a sample page before and after your activity. That tells you how people performed on your exercise. It does not prove a lasting change in anyone’s health behavior, so do not present it that way.
Work Through One Example
Imagine you choose the educational tips option and focus on handwashing, one of the examples HOSA names. You start from the MedlinePlus pages on the topic and write five short tips, each tied to the page it came from.
To make the session active, you also create two fictional social posts about handwashing and label both clearly as teaching examples. One points readers to an identifiable health organization. The other uses confident language and cites nothing. Classmates find the original source behind each post, separate advertising from education, and list what the weaker post leaves unanswered.
Then you show how you checked your own tips. If a classmate says one example is confusing, you revise it and record the change. Your goal is to help people examine information, not to tell anyone how to treat a skin condition or an infection.
A useful project record might read: “Most participants could identify the organization behind each post but missed the review date. I enlarged that part of the example and explained why dates matter.” That is a concrete account of your work. “I improved community health” is a much larger claim than a classroom exercise supports.
Keep Your Work Easy to Review
Keep a clean copy of your presentation, a source log and a short revision note. Record what you created, when and where you presented it and what feedback you received. Describe participation accurately, and follow your school’s rules before collecting names, photographs or other personal information.
Avoid stuffing the project with facts simply because you found them. Each fact should help your audience answer your chosen question. Read your handout aloud, and if a sentence takes several attempts to explain, rewrite it.
HOSA requires content to be new each membership year, and material used in a previous year’s competition may not be reused. A record of your decisions shows what you developed this year rather than an old project with a new date.
How Is the Event Recognized?
Gold, silver and bronze medals are not awarded for this event at the international level. Members who complete both levels and attend the International Leadership Conference cross the stage to receive a pin and a certificate, and recognized names are posted on the International HOSA website. For state-level recognition, your chartered association sets its own deadline and methods, so confirm those dates with your advisor early.
Connect the Project to Clinical Observation
Later, when you watch a healthcare professional explain a care plan, notice the communication choices. What does the professional ask before explaining? How do they check understanding? What happens when the patient raises a practical concern the first explanation missed? Your project gives you a framework for noticing those moments.
If you are considering a placement, review IMA’s medical internships for high school students. Applicants must be at least 16 by the start of their program and may apply before turning 16.
IMA’s early path to medical school guide explains how a high school placement fits a longer plan, and you can read how IMA and HOSA work together in the post on IMA’s partnership with HOSA.
Treat the project and any later placement as separate experiences, and document what each involved. Your learning will be easier to explain on an application when you can describe a specific question, your own work and what you changed after feedback.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Can Take Part in the HOSA Health Literacy Ambassador Event?
The 2026-27 guidelines open the event to HOSA members in the middle school, secondary and postsecondary/collegiate divisions. It is an individual recognition event, so each member completes and submits their own work.
What Are the 2026-27 Deadlines?
For international recognition, activities may count from June 1, 2026 through May 15, 2027. For state recognition, your chartered association publishes its own deadline, and your combined PDF must be uploaded before it.
Can I Start a Project Before Doing an Internship?
Yes. A classroom project helps you practice evaluating and explaining health information before you enter a clinical setting, and you never need to present yourself as a healthcare provider.
Does an IMA Internship Automatically Count Toward HOSA Recognition?
Do not assume it does. Ask your chapter advisor how an activity fits the event requirements and what separate work or documentation you need.
Should I Record This Event in HATS?
No. The 2026-27 guidelines state that HATS is no longer used for this event. Upload your Level 2 presentation and supporting documents as one combined PDF instead.
What Should I Say About the Project’s Impact?
Report what you actually observed: who took part, how they responded to your exercise and what you revised. Avoid claiming changes in health outcomes that you did not measure.
