24/7 Diner

We’re calling on all our creative writers! The challenge is simple: put together a fictional story, no longer than 2000 words. You can take any direction you’d like, the only element of your story we require is that you include a 24/7 diner at some point in your narrative.

Craving a milkshake and fries at 2 AM? Do you hear never-ending old school jams coming from a jukebox in the distance? Your story can fully take place in this diner, or the characters can simply be walking by it—whatever direction you decide to take, just be sure to include it as an element of your overall creative piece!

At a 24-hour diner, a pot of coffee is always on. Day or night, there's bound to be some interesting folks taking up a booth or barstool. So, pour a cup and let the creativity flow!

For your story to be eligible, it must be between 600 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until August 20, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The 24/7 Diner 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 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.