
Costume Contest
Show off your grandest, most terrifying, most hilarious Halloween costume of all time.
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Oct 01, 2020
Submissions closed
Nov 01, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Nov 03, 2020
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Oct 01, 2020
Submissions closed
Nov 01, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Nov 03, 2020
About this challenge
All dressed up, but nowhere to go this year? Personally, we're dedicated to spooky season, so we'll still be dressing up despite the lack of traditional trick-or-treating and costume parties. And although 2020 Halloween festivities may look a little different, it doesn't mean that the costume idea you've been planning since November 1st has to go to waste. In fact, we want to give you a reason to go all-out.
So, we're hosting our own Vocal virtual Costume Contest Challenge! It's time to show off your grandest, most terrifying, most hilarious costume get-up yet. We want to see who or what you're planning to dress up as this year - no party required! You can share your favorite costume from Halloweens past, get creative and craft a new outfit from items looming around the house, or show off your goriest, creepiest makeup skills. Anything goes—just be sure to include images of yourself in your costume, if you dare.
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it must be between 600 and 5,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until October 31, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Costume Contest 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 39 countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
Out of Season
Write a story about something appearing, happening, or returning at exactly the wrong time of year.
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Write about a memory that you and someone else remember completely differently.
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Return to something you wrote years ago and use one idea, image, character, or line from it to create something entirely new.
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Write about something memorable you ate that you'd never find on a restaurant menu.
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Challenge resources
Twenty-Four Hours Challenge Winners
The best Twenty-Four Hours entries weren’t really about fitting as much as possible into a day. They were about showing us a version of a place that felt personal, shaped by favorite stops, old memories, local quirks, and the little things you only notice only after knowing somewhere for a long time.
By Vocal Curation Team5 days ago in Resources
The Most Overrated Challenge Winners
The Most Overrated challenge wasn't really about tearing down popular things. A lot of the best critiques came from writers who understood the appeal, sometimes even loved the work, but had one particular thing they couldn’t get past. That made for arguments that felt less like hot takes and more like conversations with something the writer had actually spent time thinking about. They gave credit where it was due, then got specific about characters, choices, or ideas that kept the hype from matching their experience.
By Vocal Curation Team13 days ago in Resources








