First place: $1,000 + $1,000 donation to Fair Fight
Second place: $500 + $500 donation to Fair Fight
Third place: $250 + $250 donation to Fair Fight
January 13: Submissions open
January 19, 11:59 PM EST: Submissions closed
January 22: Winners announced
Four years ago, we introduced the "Dear Donald" series, prompting the Vocal community worldwide to write open letters to the United States president, Donald Trump. Over the last four years, you've raised your voices sharing grievances, suggestions, views, and concerns. Now that the President's term is coming to an end, we want to know what you have to say now that this historical American political era is coming to a close. Compose an open letter addressed to Donald Trump, and share your thoughts and feelings around the last four years and how they've impacted you, the country, and the world.
Prize amounts will be matched and donated to a cause we believe in, Fair Fight: an organization dedicated to fighting voter suppression in Georgia and nationally.
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 January 19, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
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.
After my internship ended early from the coronavirus pandemic and freelance film industry jobs were left in shambles, I found myself with an overabundance of time and a lack of money. Fortunately, I remembered a little website called Vocal where I won a writing Challenge the year before.
Today we’re excited to introduce Challenges, a new way for creators to get inspired and join the rest of the Vocal community in some friendly competition. Starting this week, creators will be able to participate in various Challenges across a range of topics and interests for the chance to win cash prizes, experiences, and much more.
There’s no one right way to tell a story. Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes, and we want to see what yours looks like. Challenges are meant to inspire this creativity, and we want to see you tell a story that’s unique and authentic to you—but there are just a few things we look for across the board to be sure we’re judging every entry consistently and fairly.