
Holiday Hijinks
Write a non-fiction story about a holiday gathering gone wrong.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Nov 17, 2022
Submissions closed
Nov 23, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Dec 16, 2022
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Nov 17, 2022
Submissions closed
Nov 23, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Dec 16, 2022
About this challenge
The Prompt
Write a non-fiction story about a holiday gathering gone wrong.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:
- Between 600-3,000 words
- Non-fiction
As we kick off the holiday season, we would like you to write a story about an experience that made your holiday gathering memorable — for the wrong reasons.
Was there an unexpected dinner guest? Bawdy office holiday party debauchery? We promise not to tell your family or friends.
The Prizes
- Grand Prize: $1,000
- Second Place: $250
- 10 Runners-Up: $25
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 3,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until November 22, at 11:59 PM ET will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Holiday Hijinks 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
Negative Space Challenge Winners
For Negative Space , we asked writers to explore how much can be said through what's left out. Our favorite entries found clever ways to make those silences, gaps, and unanswered questions feel just as important as the words themselves.
By Vocal Curation Team4 days ago in Resources
Out of Season Challenge Winners
We’re trying something new with our challenge awards structure. Starting with Out of Season , each challenge will recognize one grand prize , four winners , and ten honorable mentions . That’s 15 stories to celebrate, with a little extra love for the top pick. For this challenge, the strongest stories made the timing matter. Something showing up early or returning when it shouldn’t changed what people did, what they assumed, or how they saw each other. There was humor in trying to carry on as usual, and sadness in realizing why the usual schedule no longer worked. Sometimes the wrong time of year turned out to be just when someone needed it.
By Vocal Curation Team11 days ago in Resources
Already Here Challenge Winners
Useful tools can change your life before you think to question them. That’s really what made these Already Here entries interesting. Writers looked past the initial “how is this possible?” and paid attention to how quickly something remarkable becomes part of the routine. The strongest pieces didn’t ask us to choose between being impressed and being uneasy. They understood why people welcome these changes, then noticed what else shifts once we get used to them.
By Vocal Curation Team25 days ago in Resources




