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Weekend Getaway
Write a fictional story about a snowy weekend cabin getaway.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000 Airbnb Credit
- Second Place:
- $250 Airbnb Credit
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Nov 23, 2022
Submissions closed
Dec 03, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Dec 21, 2022
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $1,000 Airbnb Credit
- Second Place:
- $250 Airbnb Credit
- 10 Runners-Up:
- $25
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Nov 23, 2022
Submissions closed
Dec 03, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Dec 21, 2022
About this challenge
The Prompt
Write a fictional story about a weekend getaway that starts with this first sentence:
"We drove up the snowy, winding road towards the cozy A-frame cabin."
In order for your submission to qualify, it must:
- Be between 600-3,000 words
- Be fictional
- Start with the first sentence from the prompt
The Prizes
In the spirit of the theme of this challenge, we are giving away Airbnb credit towards a writer's weekend getaway. Whether you choose to stay at a cabin in the woods or a beachfront bungalow, we know the change of scenery will do wonders for your writing.
- Grand Prize: $1,000 Airbnb Credit
- Second Place: $250 Airbnb Credit
- 10 Runners-Up: $25
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 3,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until December 2nd, at 11:59 PM ET will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Weekend Getaway 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