Over Attention to Detail?

I wrote a movie review 2 years ago, and published it in the Horror Community. I submitted it to the Most Overrated challenge using the RED link that Vocal has for their Challenges, which says: ENTER NOW

The Challenge directions are:

In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:

·       3,000 words or less.

·       Submitted to the Critique community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.

·       Submitted before August 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST.

·       Your work must be original and unpublished.

All right, I read that; I always read the instructions. Before I SUBMIT, I go back and look at which Community the story needs to be submitted to.

In this instance, since I clicked the RED LINK and selected the story from the dropdown of my previously published stories, I thought my story would be fine and in the Challenge. After all, the Challenge rules state: If your story is approved as an entry to the challenge, your submission will appear on the The Most Overrated Challenge page.

It did show as my submission under the Challenge. Several weeks went by. I looked again to make sure it was under the Challenge, as I was considering doing another story.

When I looked at the story, Harper Lewis had left a new comment. She told me that I needed to change the story’s community to Critique, per the instructions, or they wouldn’t consider it. Mike Singleton guided me on how to change the community. (I didn't know if I had to revert to draft or just edit.)

Again, the challenge rules say: If your story is approved as an entry to the challenge, your submission will appear on the The Most Overrated Challenge page.

It showed up there, as if it was allowed, with the entries to the Challenge. Did I truly need to edit it and resubmit it to the Critique community for it to be considered?

I thought it best to do so - I want it to be considered.

To change the community, I clicked the ellipsis in order to edit it.

Then I clicked Manage Publish

When I clicked Manage Publish, the Challenge was already selected beneath the story, and I only needed to select the tags I wanted. Now the story is under the Challenge, in the correct Community, Critique. It was originally a Top Story with many comments. It still shows all of that.

In the past, I asked Vocal if previously published pieces could be submitted. The reply referred me to the Challenge instructions and a link within the instructions: Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here. 

The information for The Overrated challenge says:

• You must have an account on Vocal.media ("Vocal") to enter the Contest.

• Your entry must be in English.

• You must be 13 years of age or over at time of entry.

• You must have a Vocal+ membership account at time of entry to the Contest.

• You must have a Stripe account connected to your Vocal account in order to be eligible to receive cash prizes. This means you must be a resident of a Stripe-supported country OR have Stripe Atlas enabled to be eligible to win.

• You can submit as many times as you want, as long as your submissions meet the contest guidelines as well as the Vocal guidelines, found here:

https://vocal.media/resources/community-guidelines.

• Your entry must be created by you.

• Your entry must follow the guidelines outlined in the prompt. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the Challenge up until August 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here. I have copied the pertinent info below (my bold and underline) - much of it goes over needing a Stripe account and being a Vocal + member.

After you successfully submit your story to The Most Overrated Challenge, it will be sent to the Vocal moderators. If your story needs any updates or does not meet quality standards or the submission guidelines, the story will be sent back to you for edits. If your story meets all necessary guidelines but is not applicable to the subject matter of the Most Overrated Challenge, it will be published in the applicable community, but will not be considered as an entry to the challenge and will not appear on the Challenge page once published. If your story is approved as an entry to the challenge, your submission will appear on the The Most Overrated Challenge page.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Vocal added to their instructions what I have italicized: (Vocal's bold, not mine)

• In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:

•       3,000 words or less.

•      Submitted to the Critique community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.

•      Submitted before August 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST.

•      Your work must be original and unpublished, <<but if previously published on Vocal, it can be considered if the challenge guidelines were followed.>>

• <<If previously submitted under another community, there is no need to change the original community >>

OR

• <<If previously submitted under another community, you must edit the story and republish it in the community stated in the Challenge for it to be considered. Once it is in the proper community and submitted to the Challenge, it will appear with the Challenge entries.>>

  • <<In order to republish under another community, you must edit the story and then use the Manage Publish button.>>

What do you think? I am writing this after years on Vocal and helpdesk tickets with incomplete responses.

I believe:

1) Vocal has an obligation to update all of their instructional documents in light of today's platform.

2) Vocal has an obligation to ensure the challenge instructions are clearly stated, leaving little room for questions. The links they provide in the challenge need to be updated and reviewed, and the monetary awards need to be updated on each challenge (do not use a template that might be incorrect).

👍 I would love it if Vocal could consider the additions I wrote above. I would also love a Memorial community for creators who have died, with their stories moved there. That might be a hard project, needing confirmation, etc. A process would need to be written for this.

💡Perhaps Vocal could run a challenge for Vocal+ writers who have never placed, or for those who can't have a Stripe account, or those who can't afford the Vocal+ membership, and showcase their stories even though they can't monetize their entries.

Does anyone else find it weird that challenges require us to put an entry into a community that doesn't really fit the community description? That is another opportunity for Vocal: to update the communities, their descriptions, remove some, add some…but WITH the Creators' input.

Copyright © 8/17/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin