
Fresh Start
Share your wellness resolutions for this year.
Prizes
- First place:
- $2,500
- Second place:
- $1,000
- Third place:
- $500
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jan 07, 2021
Submissions closed
Feb 03, 2021 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2021
Prizes
- First place:
- $2,500
- Second place:
- $1,000
- Third place:
- $500
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jan 07, 2021
Submissions closed
Feb 03, 2021 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2021
About this challenge
As we enter the New Year, we're all longing for a fresh start and an opportunity to grow. We've put 2020 behind us and it's time to reflect on what we want to accomplish moving forward, and how we want to make it happen. Being mindful of what we do and consume to feel good is the first step!
Join us this month in reflecting on ways we can better ourselves starting with a clean slate. What resolutions are you hoping to stick to this year for a healthier lifestyle? For this Challenge, tell us how you're doing this, whether you're participating in Dry January or letting go of sedentary habits, we're here to show our support with your wellness goals this year!
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it must be between 600 and 5,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until February 2, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or third place prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing 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 to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these 35 countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
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Write a story that opens at the edge of a beginning that feels uncertain, partial, or reluctant and avoid resolution.
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Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
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Write a story centered on an unspoken rule that everyone in the story understands and follows, allowing the rule to emerge through behavior.
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Challenge resources
Mismatch Challenge Winners
Blending genres isn’t about stacking elements side by side. It’s about what happens when two sets of expectations refuse to cooperate. The strongest entries in the Mismatch Challenge understood that tension and leaned into it. Rather than smoothing the edges, these stories let their chosen genres complicate one another, creating friction that carried through voice, structure, and consequence.
By Vocal Curation Team15 days ago in Resources
Public Announcement Challenge Winners
For the Public Announcement Challenge, writers were asked to work inside voices built for control. These were notices, warnings, and updates meant to inform rather than confess. The strongest entries committed to that form and didn't break from it. Corporate memos, formal government alerts, and internal policy language were held consistently, allowing emotion, fear, grief, or humor to surface indirectly through pressure rather than declaration. The following poems recognize the voice of authority, and let human feeling slip through despite all its rules and restraint.
By Vocal Curation Team20 days ago in Resources






