Chapters Challenge Winners

It's one of the most difficult tasks in writing. Write about yourself.

Now, do it for an entire book. And make it engaging, enthralling if possible. We understand how tall an order that is so in designing this Challenge we only asked for a middle chapter, that point where things are really rolling and you're deep into your personal, historical writing journey. Still, there's not much that's easy about the middle of an autobiography either!

And yet, we received hundreds of incredibly touching and inspired middle chapters. Many were funny, most were emotional, all were heartfelt.

As Creators, we try to give you insight into the judging of our Challenges and for this one we realized a small but critical difference between the good and the excellent. The submissions that really rung our bell felt like a middle chapter whereas some other submissions, while well written and poignant, felt more like a standalone piece, a short story, an anecdote. A middle chapter has a sense of surprise to it. We wanted to feel like we opened a book to the middle and started reading, like a line was being picked up from where it was left off only a page before. There is a continuity a middle chapter demands as it is, well, a continuation of what came before. This is done through tone, story flow as well as what isn't in the chapter. The middle is a strange place. It's not here nor there but vital to getting us to the end.

Here are the winners of the Chapters Challenge. You can check out the full list of winners HERE.

$500 Grand Prize Winner

Carly Bush for Street Shrines

For my own part, I think I was simply afraid to break what felt like a uniquely enchanting travel experience that few people are fortunate enough to be granted in the digital age.

Sometimes all we can do is smile as we read a submission. This chapter opened in media res and didn't stop moving until its finish. The writing was so measured, so bright and resonant, we truly felt we were there with the author, smelling and seeing and tasting. We love travel writing and don't see enough of it on Vocal. Not that this was just travel writing. It was a soft, clear portrait of the author in motion, where they were coming from and where they were going. Not here, not there, in the middle. This submission was an utter pleasure to read and we would love to read more, to know the before and the after. Congratulations, Carly Bush!

$250 Second Place Winner

Carl L. Lane for Mourning the Mother I Never Knew

The middle. That place where you come to understand something about yourself, where you have enough time and life behind you to consider all the feelings you felt about someone. That's what we read and felt in this chapter, a terrible, loving chapter about the loss of one's mother, a mother who was never really there. We wanted so badly to read what life was like when the author was younger and about who they are now. Lane's writing is clear, without pretense or embellishment. This is of particular note due to the chapter's contents. Congratulations, Carl L. Lane!

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