Vocal Curation Team
Bio
Collaborative, conscious, and committed to content. We're rounding up the best that the Vocal network has to offer.
Stories (150/0)
Unveiling the Winners of the 2023 Vocal Writing Awards đ„
We've judged, you've judged, and we've all waited... It's finally time to announce the winners of the 2023 Vocal Writing Awards! This year's winners, comprised of the highest caliber works across 8 categories â haiku poetry, free verse poetry, romance fiction, young adult fiction, horror fiction, fantasy fiction, science fiction, and flash fiction â are so worth the read.
By Vocal Curation Team8 months ago in Resources
Under a Spell Challenge Winners
What makes a spell? Thatâs what we found ourselves thinking as we read Madi Haywoodâs terrific winning story, The March of the Women. It begins with the â very real â words of Ethyl Smythâs 1911 ââMarch of the Womenâ â a song which became the anthem of the movement to get women the vote in Britain. In this stirring piece of historical fiction, Haywood not only uses wonderful images (âThe short heels on their worn boots clicked the ground together, a harmonious thunder that echoed and cracked around themâ) but also creates a real sense that Smythâs song is a spell, something that has a power beyond words, that works on its own so that those who hear it cannot resist. âOnce the song had begun, it couldnât be stopped,â Haywood writes. âAs long as they sung while doing their work, they couldnât get caught.â An unusual winner, perhaps â there are no clichĂ©s of witches here, no magic in the ordinary sense. But Madi Haywood has truly absorbed the spirit of this challenge and made it their own.
By Vocal Curation Team8 months ago in Resources
Nourished Challenge Winners
We love to eat here at Vocal. Weâre not fussy; weâre fine with a bowl of popcorn in front of the TV on a rainy afternoon, especially if weâre in the right company. Sometimes a crisp apple on a fall day does the trick. But food made with love is something special, something unique, and the Nourished challenge showed us how many different ways there are to express love and affection by what gets served on a plate.
By Vocal Curation Team9 months ago in Resources
Unspoken Challenge Winners
Convey a deep conversation between two individuals without uttering a single word aloud. This Challenge gave us an incredible array of heartfelt stories. We never dreamed so many intimate exchanges could be had without saying a word. Interestingly, many entries were filled with sad emotions. Loss, heartbreak, betrayal, despondency. It seems wordlessness brings us to a serious place, creatively speaking.
By Vocal Curation Team9 months ago in Resources
Extraterrestrial Challenge Winners
Write a rhyming poem about the first thing you would introduce to an alien on Earth. At first we thought this Challenge prompt was going to be an easy one. We envisioned submissions filled with quick, zany answers, bright, loud things that would impress an alien and make us laugh.
By Vocal Curation Team9 months ago in Resources
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!
By Vocal Curation Team9 months ago in Resources
The 2023 Vocal Writing Awards: Community Judging is Open
Our esteemed panel of judges, led by former Times literary editor, Erica Wagner, have sieved through all of the submissions to the Vocal Writing Awards to bring forth finalists that epitomizes craft and artistry. The shortlists for all eight categories are officially live and awaiting your verdict. Vocal community, the fate of the 2023 Vocal Writing Awards is in your hands (and reading minds).
By Vocal Curation Team10 months ago in Resources
Writers Challenge Winners
It's the one thing everyone on Vocal has in common. We all started writing at some point. For some of us it may have been the first story or article we posted on Vocal. For others, it may have been in school or hiding under our covers late at night, letting the muse take over our little creative minds. Whenever it happened, we all wrote those first words. And for so many of us (let's be honest, it's why we're all on Vocal!), the love of writing stuck.
By Vocal Curation Team10 months ago in Resources
Judging the Vocal Writing Awards
Hey Vocal Creators đ With just 9 days left to enter, the final countdown to submission deadline has begun for the Vocal Writing Awards (VWA), a celebration of the most captivating writing contributions from our community. To ensure a transparent process, we've outlined the complete procedure in this resource article. So whether you're a participant, voter, or an eager spectator, here's everything you need to know.
By Vocal Curation Team10 months ago in Resources
Book Club Challenge Winners
This Challenge was particularly enjoyable for us as judges. It allowed us to sit around and discuss our own books that we cherish, the ones that changed us. Was it because they were perfectly written? Or because it was the book we needed at that point in our lives? And what does perfectly written even mean? For whom is it perfect? And, being big readers, as so many of our Creators are, we know that the more you read, the more deeply you are affected by all sorts of books, and suddenly you are thrown this way and that, moved like a leaf on a stream by all the incredible books you read, and it's hard to pick just one book.
By Vocal Curation Team10 months ago in Resources
Critique Challenge Winners
Critics and critiques in general are held up as many things. They are lauded for their insight into art, allowing the masses to understand why a painting, play, book or movie are important. And many critiques, the best, we feel, can be filled with the critic's personal tone while remaining objective. But critics are also often despised by artists as misunderstanding or misclassifying their works. Critics wield a lot of power, just look at Rotten Tomatoes. It just takes one bad review to tank almost any type of art.
By Vocal Curation Team11 months ago in Resources