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Thrift Finds
Show off and share your thrift shop treasures.
Prizes
- First place:
- $1,000
- Second place:
- $500
- Third place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Apr 07, 2021
Submissions closed
Apr 14, 2021 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Apr 20, 2021
Prizes
- First place:
- $1,000
- Second place:
- $500
- Third place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Apr 07, 2021
Submissions closed
Apr 14, 2021 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Apr 20, 2021
About this challenge
Thrift shops can be a treasure trove of vintage clothes, old kitchen appliances, and tchotchkes galore—but sometimes a lucky shopper comes across a once-in-a-lifetime purchase.
For this week's Challenge, tell us about your top-tier thrift finds and show us the best pieces you've collected over the years. Whether you shop for clothing, knick-knacks, home decor, or any other second-hand items, we want to see the gems you've come across, either intentional treasure hunting or by chance. Did you stumble upon a designer piece at a bargain price? Did you find out the painting you bought is an original that's worth a fortune? Or, did you repurpose an old jacket and brought back a decades-old fashion trend?
If you peruse the charity shops, flea markets, yard sales, antique stores, or Depop, show off the items you've collected and share your discoveries and thrifting hacks or tips for finding the best deals. Be sure to include photos of your timeless acquisitions and tell us the story behind your items and how you came across them. Happy thrifting!
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 April 13, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here. To learn how to embed media in your story, check out this resource here.
The Thrift Finds 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 39 countries will not be eligible to win.
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Challenge resources
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‘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 Team15 days ago in Resources