Moment of Silence

The Prompt

When was the last time you felt the stillness of absolute silence? We find that some of our deepest thoughts and feelings come alive in the quietest corners of our minds.

For this challenge, you must capture the essence of silence in acrostic poetry form. What emerges when the world’s noise slips into the background? Is the silence a suppression or a blessing? Whether inspired by a specific moment or an abstract concept, we’re all ears — listening closely for your unique interpretation.

What is an acrostic poem?

An acrostic poem is a poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase. Based on this prompt, the first line would begin with S, the next line would begin with I, and so on, ending with the final letter E. There should be 7 lines total.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:

• An acrostic poem. The first letter of each line in your poem should spell out 'SILENCE' and the poem should capture the word's essence.
• Submitted to Poets community. Choosing a community is a final step in the submission process. Your poem may be rejected for word count requirements if it is submitted to any other community.

The Prizes

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

For your poem 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 September 5, 2024 will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Moment of Silence 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.