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Outdoor Shots
Capture your best outdoor photo and share your process.
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 12, 2020
Submissions closed
Jul 24, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jul 30, 2020
Prizes
- First place:
- $5,000
- Second place:
- $2,500
- Third place:
- $1,000
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 12, 2020
Submissions closed
Jul 24, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jul 30, 2020
About this challenge
Being outdoors has taken a whole new meaning over the past couple of months. Walks to the beach or a weekend hike are now activities we treasure and look forward to, arguably more than we ever did—so we want to capture nature and celebrate the joy it brings us. For this, we're calling on all photographers who have a certain ability to capture beauty in exceptional ways. Now, we're not only asking professional photographers to join—we want all of you, no matter your photography experience, to share your best outdoor shots.
Whether you have a high end camera or are more of a phone photography person, all is welcome in this Challenge! Share your best outdoor shot and tell us everything about it. Why did you choose that photo? Where were you? Does it bring any particular memories?
You're more than welcome to edit the final shot, but walk us through the process if you do so—did you edit it a certain way? Do you use any apps for this? Include as many details as possible to support your photo and put your best nature photography foot forward.
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 July 23, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
All photos entered must be original.
The Outdoor Shot 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