Painted Prose

The Prompt

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." - Edgar Degas

In honor of the launch of the Art Community, this challenge invites you to create a narrative that incorporates elements, themes, or characters from the chosen artwork. You may choose any artwork that resonates with you, whether it be a painting, sculpture, photograph, or any other form of visual art, created by yourself or another artist. The artwork will serve as a visual prompt, igniting your imagination and setting the stage for the story that unfolds.

You may explore the backstory of the artwork, delve into the emotions it evokes, or invent a completely new storyline inspired by its visual cues. The goal is to bring the artwork to life through the power of storytelling, immersing readers in a vivid and engaging tale.

Be sure to include the selected artwork as the featured image for your story and provide proper credit to the artist in the caption.

In order for your submission to qualify, it must:

• Be between 600-5,000 words.
• Be entered into the Art Community.
• Include the artwork that inspired the story as the featured image and credit the artist in the caption.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $500
• Second Place: $250
• 10 Runners-Up: $50

For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 5,000 words, and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until 11:59 PM ET on June 30th will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Painted Prose 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.