
Book Club
Write about a book that changed you.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Aug 10, 2023
Submissions closed
Sep 01, 2023 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Sep 21, 2023
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Aug 10, 2023
Submissions closed
Sep 01, 2023 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Sep 21, 2023
About this challenge
The Prompt
Write about a book that changed you.
Books can serve as windows into other worlds or mirrors that reflect our own experiences. They have the potential to comfort, challenge, or even redefine personal beliefs and worldviews. In honor of the launch of the BookClub community, this challenge seeks to explore the intimate relationship readers and writers share with books. If you've ever forged a deep connection with a book, that stayed with you well after you finished reading it, we want to hear about it. This isn't just a recount of the plot, but a deep dive into personal transformation or realization instigated by the words on a page.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:
- Between 300-3,000 words.
- Submitted to the BookClub community. Choosing a community is a final step in the submission process.
This challenge was inspired by Naomi Gold's comment on Introducing the BookClub Community.
The Prizes
- Grand Prize: $500
- Second Place: $250
- 10 Runners-Up: $25
Reminder: There is a Bonus Boost for Vocal+ members, and entering this challenge can help you earn. If you publish in all four of our new communities—BookClub, Writers, Chapters, and Critique—before 11:59PM EST on 9/01/2023, you'll be eligible to receive a $10 Bonus.
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it should be between 300 and 3,000 words, and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until 11:59 PM ET on August 31, 2023 will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Book Club 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.
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Challenge resources
Dead Air Challenge Winners
Dead Air brought out some incredibly creative and strange ideas, and we had a lot of fun seeing where everyone took the prompt. From creepy toys and mysterious phone calls to sinister supermarket intercoms and a full-blown musical nightmare, there was no shortage of unique ways to make us think twice about what we're hearing.
By Vocal Curation Team3 days ago in Resources
October Challenge Winners
October turned out to be a much stranger place than we expected, and we loved seeing where everyone took it. From familiar autumn scenes to some wonderfully unexpected settings, this challenge brought out a lot of creativity and imagination.
By Vocal Curation Team10 days ago in Resources
You Are Here Challenge Winners
For You Are Here , we asked writers to put readers somewhere they weren't supposed to be. What really stood out in the stories that placed was how often that line wasn't so clear. Sometimes you knew you were pushing your luck, sometimes you had every right to be there, and sometimes you didn't get much of a choice. Writing in second person made those situations feel a lot harder to watch from the sidelines.
By Vocal Curation Team17 days ago in Resources

