Return of the Night Owl

*Note from the Vocal Team: The Judges have spoken, and the winners have been chosen for the Return of the Night Owl Challenge! See if your story made the list here!

This Challenge is a throwback to our first major Fiction Challenge. The Vocal community has grown a lot since we launched The Night Owl Challenge back in January 2021. We decided to revisit the nostalgic prompt that got all those creative juices flowing. So, once again, we’re asking you to share a piece of short fiction that includes a barn owl at any point in your narrative. Let's kick off 2022 with the same imaginative gusto that we felt a year ago!

But here’s the thing: This Challenge is ONLY accepting new, original stories for consideration. Any story entered into The Night Owl Challenge in January 2021 will not be eligible to win, and thus will be removed from this Challenge. New Challenge, new stories only!

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 January 25, 2022, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Return of the Night Owl 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, third place, and 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.