New Year, New Projects
Create a story about your New Year’s resolution for a 2025 creative project.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
Bonus Prize: The best Vocal-related project will receive an extra $100, and 10 Honorable Mentions will receive badges.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Dec 31, 2024
Submissions closed
Jan 15, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2025
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
Bonus Prize: The best Vocal-related project will receive an extra $100, and 10 Honorable Mentions will receive badges.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Dec 31, 2024
Submissions closed
Jan 15, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2025
About this challenge
The Prompt
Create a story about your New Year’s resolution for a 2025 creative project.
The new year is the perfect time to dream big and set ambitious goals. This Challenge invites you to share your resolutions for a project you’re passionate about starting or growing in 2025.
Is it a book you’ve been meaning to write, a new skill you want to master, a business idea you’re ready to bring to life, or a community initiative you’re eager to launch? We want to hear about your vision, the steps you’ll take, and what drives you to make it happen.
To celebrate the spirit of creation and innovation, we’re doubling the grand prize for this Challenge. Let this be the year you turn your aspirations into reality—with a little extra support from us to help you along the way!
As an added incentive, we’re offering a bonus prize for projects tied directly to Vocal. This could include plans to expand your content on Vocal, launch a new series, or create a project that leverages Vocal’s platform in innovative ways.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:
- A story between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length.
- Submitted to the Motivation community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.
- Submitted before January 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST
The Prizes
- Grand Prize: $1,000
- Second Place: $200
- 15 Runners-Up: $15 each
- 10 Honorable Mentions: Badge
- 1 Bonus Prize: $100
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it must be between 1,000 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until January 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The New Year, New Projects Challenge is is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+, visit https://todaysurvey.shop/vocal-plus%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E.%3C/p%3E%3Cp class="css-1923z11-Text">To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and reside in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need a Stripe account created and connected to receive prizes. Entrants located outside of these countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
Craft Over Catharsis
Write a story that prioritizes structure, technique, or form over emotional release.
$200 Grand Prize4 days leftInstructions for a Feeling
Write a poem that gives instructions for how to experience, create, or avoid a feeling.
$200 Grand Prize9 days leftRituals of Affection
Write a story about a recurring ritual tied to love, romance, or connection. Something about it is unusual, unsettling, or unexplained.
$200 Grand Prize11 days leftThe Unnecessary Line
Write a poem that includes one line that does not strictly belong and let the tension it creates remain unresolved.
$200 Grand Prize18 days leftA System That Isn’t Working
Write about a system, whether social, economic, cultural, technological, or otherwise, that feels broken or misaligned.
$200 Grand Prize25 days leftEveryone Is Acting Normally
Write a story in which something is clearly wrong but all characters behave as if everything is normal.
$200 Grand Prize32 days leftThe Haiku of Now
Write a haiku that captures a small, precise moment from the present without reflection or commentary.
$200 Grand Prize37 days leftWhat the Myth Gets Wrong
Write a story set in a world where a well-known myth exists that focuses on a detail the myth simplifies, ignores, or distorts.
$200 Grand Prize39 days leftSomething Is Beginning, I Think
Write a story that opens at the edge of a beginning that feels uncertain, partial, or reluctant and avoid resolution.
$200 Grand Prize46 days leftSay It Plainly
Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
$200 Grand Prize53 days leftThe Rule Everyone Knows
Write a story centered on an unspoken rule that everyone in the story understands and follows, allowing the rule to emerge through behavior.
$200 Grand Prize58 days left
Challenge resources
Instructions Included Challenge Winners
For the Instructions Included challenge, we asked writers to tell a story through instructions and to trust the form to carry what could not be said outright. Across the top entries, that trust paid off in many different ways.
By Vocal Curation Team5 days ago in Resources
The Ritual of Winter Challenge Winners
Welcome to the Winners Announcement for The Ritual of Winter challenge. This prompt focused on winter rituals and the meaning that settles into them over time. The top pieces stay grounded in ordinary acts and repeated routines, letting winter shape the work through pace, attention, and restraint.
By Vocal Curation Team24 days ago in Resources
