Voices for Change
Black lives matter. Create a story to educate others, or share your experiences.
Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 02, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 25, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 26, 2020
Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 02, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 25, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 26, 2020
About this challenge
In Lieu of Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
About
We always tell you that as our creators, you're our partners. This means we’re here to support you, but also to amplify your voices and listen to what you have to say. This week, in light of the heavy weight on the most vulnerable communities and the pressing conversations that need to be had openly and honestly, we’re introducing you to a new kind of Challenge.
For this Challenge, instead of dividing you all in friendly competition, we’re challenging you all as a community to come together and have those conversations. There won’t be a winner chosen, and we won’t be giving a cash prize to any single individual.
Instead, we’re giving you an open floor to tell us what you want people to know in light of the international conversations sparked by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and so many others lost to racist violence. Maybe that’s elaborating on your experiences as a Black person in America; maybe that’s you as a nonblack person sharing resources and lessons that you think your nonblack peers need to engage with. Create a story that takes the opportunity to educate others, share your own past experiences, or to share what you hope comes as a result of this huge cultural movement.
We want to challenge you all to share your voices, so our goal is to receive at least 250 entries to this Challenge by June 24 at 11:59pm EST. For the first 250 eligible entries we receive, we're pledging $10 per story to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
How to enter
In order for your story to be eligible, it must adhere to our Community Guidelines, and be applicable to, cognizant of, and respectful of the international conversations taking place about race inspired by protests around the United States. This Challenge is a place for the most vulnerable voices to speak candidly—entries that are determined by the Vocal team to be inflammatory, instigating, diminishing, or disrespectful in the context of these cultural conversations will be removed from the Challenge.
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
