📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 07/10/2026

We're a day late on posting this thread so thanks for bearing with us while we put the finishing touches on our latest update.

A bit of housekeeping: we will be posting the leaderboard results for both 7/1 and 7/8 together in one announcement later today while we wrap up a few final details behind the scenes. Thanks for your patience!

Also incase you didn't notice, we've pushed back all open challenges by a week, here are the new deadlines:

Not Quite There ends tonight (July 10, 2026 11:59 PM EDT)

You Had to Be There ends July 17, 2026 11:59 PM EDT

The Posthumous Author ends July 24, 2026 11:59 PM EDT

Say It Again ends July 31, 2026 11:59 PM EDT

Our “Raise Your Voice Threads” are hosted most alternating Thursdays at 12PM ET (in this case Friday) to offer creators more avenues to uncover exceptional stories on Vocal. As we are continuously searching for fresh creators and inspiring stories, this thread provides an opportunity to exchange and discuss the stories that have moved and motivated us on Vocal.

How to join the 📢 Raise Your Voice Thread:

• Introduce yourself in the comment section of this story and tell us what you create on Vocal.
• Shoutout a Vocal creator you recommend reading. Include the URL of a writer or story that inspired you and why.
• If you like a story another person has recommended, send that story's creator a like, leave a comment, and/or subscribe to them.

Please follow Vocal’s Community Guidelines and don’t spam your own profile or stories in the thread. We encourage the community to report users or comments that break these guidelines.

We'll start the thread:

Give new creator Neo Zak's piece a read for a heartfelt take on the realities of immigration and starting over.