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Painted Prose
Write a story inspired by a work of art.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $50
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 05, 2023
Submissions closed
Jul 01, 2023 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jul 21, 2023
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $250
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $50
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 05, 2023
Submissions closed
Jul 01, 2023 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jul 21, 2023
About this challenge
The Prompt
Write a story inspired by a work of art. Make the artwork your featured image and give credit to the artist in the caption.
"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
How to enter
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.
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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 Team9 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 Team11 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 Team16 days ago in Resources