L*pogram

The Prompt

The genre of your story is anything you choose — just don't use words with the letter 'i'! Please also do not omit the letter 'i' from words that usually contain it or use an asterisk/placeholder like we did for the title of this challenge. Hypocritical, we know, but we want to challenge you as writers in the best way possible! (However, please note it is permissible to cite the name of the challenge in your piece.)

What is a Lipogram?

A lipogram is a type of constrained writing where the author deliberately avoids using a particular letter or group of letters. This literary challenge forces writers to be inventive with their vocabulary and phrasing, often leading to unique and creative results. The classic example is the novel "Gadsby" by Ernest Vincent Wright, which does not contain the letter 'e'. In this contest, the challenge is to write a story without using the letter 'i'.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must:

• Be between 1,000-2,500 words.
• Not contain any words with the letter 'i' in them. This includes the title, subtitle, and body of text.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $500
• Second Place: $200
• 10 Runners-Up: $20

Special shout-out to J.R. Lowe for inspiring this challenge idea in Share Your Ideas to Shape the Future of Vocal Challenges.

For your piece to be eligible, it should adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until 11:59 PM ET on August 8, 2024 will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The L*pogram 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.

Any content that is determined to be generated by artificial intelligence will be disqualified and will not be eligible to place in any challenge. Read more on our stance here.