Summer's Day

It is fitting that one of the most well-known love poems, Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?), is also about summertime. All of the summer elements—warm, sunny days, flowers in full bloom, and time spent out in nature—are evocative of poetry.

To welcome the summer season, we want you to write us a sonnet about a vivid summer memory. The only requirements are that your poems adhere to our guidelines, be at least 100 words in length, and adhere to or be inspired by the traditional format of a Shakespearean sonnet. (If you need to brush up on your form, here's a quick reminder about what makes a Shakespearean sonnet.)

For your sonnet to be eligible, it must be between 100 and 2,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Poetry published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until June 1, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here. To learn more about how to best publish your poetry on Vocal, please check out our help center here.

The Summer's Day 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 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 countries will not be eligible to win.