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ICYMI
Share your top three underrated TV shows and tell us why you recommend them.
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
May 08, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 12, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 18, 2020
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
May 08, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 12, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 18, 2020
About this challenge
Our screen times may have drastically increased in the last couple of weeks, and there’s absolutely no shame in that. We’ve admittedly binge-watched 2 full shows and too many movies to count by now. Naturally, we can’t wait to start our next show—want to give us a hand? Share your top three underrated TV shows and tell us a bit about each one and why you recommend it as a must (NO SPOILERS!)
We want overlooked shows here, so avoid highlighting the go-to binge recommendations. (Of course we’ve all seen Tiger King! We know Ozark is amazing! We finished Love Is Blind weeks ago!) Instead, think outside the box and give us some of those great but easily-overlooked gems that more people should give a chance—maybe they’re older shows people have forgotten about, or maybe they just don’t get enough credit. Enter the ICYMI Challenge and share your top three unexpected binge-watch recs.
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 June 11, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The ICYMI Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more or 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.
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Challenge resources
Summer Solstice Challenge Winners
‘Safety Net’, by Meredith Harmon, begins in a confiding tone. ‘What town?’ the tale asks. ‘We're an enclave. We're farmers. We till the soil like our forefathers, and our children's children's children will till it, till the end of time.’ There is a folkloric sensibility here, suited to the prompt, but also something contemporary and practical. This winning story of a community trying to protect and preserve itself has echoes of Shirley Jackson’s famous tale ‘The Lottery’, Meredith is a strong Vocal Creator with 225 stories to her name; and this is her second first place win of a challenge; huge congratulations.
By Vocal Curation Team8 days ago in Resources
Let's Talk About AI and Vocal Challenges
We might as well cut to the chase. Yes, we run every challenge entry through our AI detector; if we find an entry has been generated, it’s disqualified. As Justin Maury, Founder/CEO of Vocal has written, we use these detection systems because we know our readers enjoy authentic content; we also ask you to disclose when you’ve posted on the platform using AI assistance. But a different issue comes into play when we’re thinking about Challenges, and we believe it’s an important one.
By Vocal Curation Team10 days ago in Resources
Dialogue Poetry Challenge Winners
Hannah Moore is a first-time grand prize winner with her dialogue poem, On Receipt of Bad News. This was a poem that genuinely engaged both with the exchange of our prompt, but also focussed on the way poetic rhythms of language could support the writer's conceit. It felt very truthful, too, the way one speaker wishes to ignore the news and focus on practicalities; there was a quiet heartbreak, here. Well done.
By Vocal Curation Team15 days ago in Resources