The Mystery Box

The Prompt

The key to the Mystery Box Challenge is to capture a sense of mystery. How does the arrival of something unexpected change the course of one’s day? What is the true motive of the package’s sender? We can’t wait to see how you think outside the box.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $2,000
• Second Place: $500
• 10 Runners-Up: $50

For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 3,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until November 29, 2022, at 11:59 PM ET will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Mystery Box Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up 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 countries will not be eligible to win.