New Year, New Projects
Create a story about your New Year’s resolution for a 2025 creative project.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
Bonus Prize: The best Vocal-related project will receive an extra $100, and 10 Honorable Mentions will receive badges.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Dec 31, 2024
Submissions closed
Jan 15, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2025
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
Bonus Prize: The best Vocal-related project will receive an extra $100, and 10 Honorable Mentions will receive badges.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Dec 31, 2024
Submissions closed
Jan 15, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 05, 2025
About this challenge
The Prompt
Create a story about your New Year’s resolution for a 2025 creative project.
The new year is the perfect time to dream big and set ambitious goals. This Challenge invites you to share your resolutions for a project you’re passionate about starting or growing in 2025.
Is it a book you’ve been meaning to write, a new skill you want to master, a business idea you’re ready to bring to life, or a community initiative you’re eager to launch? We want to hear about your vision, the steps you’ll take, and what drives you to make it happen.
To celebrate the spirit of creation and innovation, we’re doubling the grand prize for this Challenge. Let this be the year you turn your aspirations into reality—with a little extra support from us to help you along the way!
As an added incentive, we’re offering a bonus prize for projects tied directly to Vocal. This could include plans to expand your content on Vocal, launch a new series, or create a project that leverages Vocal’s platform in innovative ways.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:
- A story between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length.
- Submitted to the Motivation community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.
- Submitted before January 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST
The Prizes
- Grand Prize: $1,000
- Second Place: $200
- 15 Runners-Up: $15 each
- 10 Honorable Mentions: Badge
- 1 Bonus Prize: $100
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it must be between 1,000 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until January 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The New Year, New Projects Challenge is 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 reside 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 a Stripe account created and connected to receive prizes. Entrants located outside 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 Team6 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 Team13 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 Team27 days ago in Resources
