Registration opens October 1 and the national competition is April 9–10, 2027
The University of Minnesota Center for Health Interprofessional Programs lists the 2027 CLARION National Case Competition for Friday and Saturday, April 9–10, 2027 on the Twin Cities campus. The current page says the event will be in person and will incorporate activities in the Health Sciences Education Center.
| Item | Current published detail |
|---|---|
| Organizer | University of Minnesota Center for Health Interprofessional Programs (CHIP) / CLARION |
| Registration opens | October 1, 2026 |
| Early-bird pricing | $2,000 per team, October 1–November 13, 2026 |
| Regular pricing | $2,250 per team, November 14, 2026–January 11, 2027 |
| Registration deadline | January 11, 2027 |
| Case and guidebook release | January 15, 2027 |
| Competition dates | April 9–10, 2027 |
| Format / location | In person, University of Minnesota Twin Cities |
| Team size | Minimum 2, maximum 4 students; 4 recommended |
| Academic mix | At least 2 different health professional programs; no more than 2 students from the same profession |
| Student status | Full-time or part-time students may participate under the national rules |
| Institution limit | One team per institution |
| First-place award | $7,500 shared by the team |
| Second-place award | $5,000 shared by the team |
| Third-place award | $2,500 shared by the team |
| Minimum GPA | NOT_STATED on the reviewed 2027 national page |
| Prior internship requirement | NOT_STATED on the reviewed 2027 national page |
| Participant wage / stipend | NOT_STATED; participation is not presented as employment |
| Guaranteed internship / job | NOT_PROMISED |
Registration opens Thursday, October 1, 2026 and closes January 11, 2027. CLARION releases the case and competition guidebook January 15, giving registered teams a defined preparation period before the April event.
The national competition is a student case competition rather than an internship. The organizer publishes team registration fees and team awards; it does not publish participant wages, a stipend for taking part, or a guaranteed internship or job conversion.
Sources[1]
Eligibility depends on an interprofessional healthcare team, not one specific major
Each institution may send one national team. CLARION recommends four students and permits a minimum of two and a maximum of four. The team must represent at least two different health professional programs, with no more than two students representing the same profession.
The rules allow both clinical and non-clinical health professional degrees. CLARION gives Medicine and Public Health as examples and lists fields such as Pharmacy, Healthcare Administration, Nursing, Dentistry, Social Work, Veterinary Medicine and others in its definition discussion. A student whose program does not lead directly to a health professional degree or license may still fit if the academic program has a healthcare emphasis. Ask CLARION to review an unusual team composition rather than assuming eligibility.
National participants may be full-time or part-time students. A prior health professional degree does not automatically disqualify a student, but the student represents the program they are currently enrolled in. Students who are also employed in professional leadership positions are not eligible unless the CLARION Executive Board grants an individual exception. The current national page does not state a GPA floor or prior-internship requirement.
Sources[1]
The durable work product is a healthcare systems case analysis and presentation
CLARION was created to bridge clinical and administrative perspectives in healthcare. Its recurring national competition uses a constructed healthcare sentinel-event case so students from different professional backgrounds have to analyze the same systems problem together rather than solve a discipline-only exercise.
The case is released January 15, 2027. CLARION's program model asks teams to investigate causes, develop recommendations and present their proposed response to senior health executives. The guidebook provided to registered teams contains the current rules, team and advisor roles, judging criteria and technical-assistance information.
That creates a stronger recruiting artifact than attendance alone. Save the analysis you are permitted to retain, the final deck, your contribution notes and any official placement evidence. Be able to explain what your team concluded, what evidence changed your view, what trade-off you handled and what part you personally owned.
Teams pay to enter; the top three teams share published cash awards
The 2027 early-bird registration price is $2,000 per team from October 1 through November 13. Regular pricing is $2,250 from November 14 through the January 11 deadline. The fee covers up to four students and one faculty advisor. Each additional faculty advisor who travels with the team adds $250.
Registration formally enrolls the team. If a registered team later withdraws, CLARION says it will charge a $500 non-refundable deposit instead of the full registration fee. That institutional cost should be resolved before a student treats the competition as a casual individual application.
The 2027 national awards are $7,500 for first place, $5,000 for second and $2,500 for third, shared among team members. A possible prize is not participant compensation. The reviewed national page does not publish a universal student travel reimbursement, lodging stipend or wage, so those should be checked with the institution sending the team rather than inferred from the registration price.
Sources[1]
Use the judged work as evidence without turning the competition into employment
A defensible resume label is the actual program and result: CLARION National Case Competition 2027 — Participant, Finalist or placement only after that result is official. The competition does not make a student an employee or intern of the University of Minnesota, a judge's organization or another participating institution.
The useful signal is specific interprofessional problem solving: healthcare systems analysis, communication across professional perspectives, recommendation quality, presentation and Q&A. A recruiter can probe those decisions. A generic attendance line is weaker because it does not show what the student produced.
The current 2027 national page does not promise an internship screen, interview, internship placement or job offer. Keep normal internship recruiting moving while the case competition runs, then use completed work as evidence in later applications.
Build the team before registration and use January 15 as the project start date
Before October 1, identify the institution's faculty or staff sponsor and confirm whether another team already owns the school's single national slot. Build a two-to-four-person team that satisfies the two-profession rule. Resolve the institutional registration budget before the early-bird window closes November 13 rather than waiting for the January 11 hard deadline.
When the case arrives January 15, assign analysis ownership deliberately: systems/root-cause framing, evidence and outside research, recommendation design, implementation trade-offs and presentation. Keep a short decision log so each student can later explain what changed during the project instead of memorizing the final slides.
Representative searches this page is designed to answer include “CLARION case competition 2027,” “CLARION 2027 registration deadline,” “CLARION case competition eligibility,” “CLARION team composition,” “CLARION case competition fee,” “CLARION case competition prizes,” “CLARION healthcare case competition,” and “CLARION case competition internship.”