Reminder: Ekphrastic Challenge!

Hello, lovely Vocalites!

As has become my MO, I’ve come here today to remind all who have entered this challenge that we have just about 21 days until the deadline. I’m very excited to read everyone’s story or poem (or both!). To those who have already submitted, THANK YOU! I’ll be reading those ones in the coming days! There is no submission limit, remember, so if you’ve a mind to write another, I’d be delighted to read it. 😝

As more and more creators begin their own unofficial challenges, I’m growing increasingly thrilled to both enter and create more! And speaking of, I’ve just remembered that I promised a second ekphrastic challenge after this one, one called the Tag! Photo Challenge. Now, I haven’t written the rules yet, but I do have an idea of what I want this to be. Basically, I’m going to close the submissions to the Tag! Photo Challenge on the day that I announce the winners of the Ekphrastic Challenge. I’ll write a separate post sometime this week explaining the rules. To give a little taster, I’m imagining something like a game of “writer tag” where one person starts the chain, writing a story based on one of the photos from the folder, and then “tags” another writer with a different photo, and on and on. (Yes, it is inspired by the Summer Extravaganza that Oneg and James started last year; thanks guys!)

There will be more soon, but back to the Ekphrastic Challenge. Please refer to this article for the criteria, rubric, and other rules, as well as the prize information and where to download your assigned photo. Also, I mentioned in the rules that if you’d like to insert a song into your story or poem, it’s an optional addition that will lead to another community playlist being created and shared (if I get enough). It won’t affect the scores or anything, but I think it would be very fun to experiment with adding an easter egg and then seeing it turn into a side project (and possibly even a new writing challenge)!

Before I sign off, I just want to emphasize that I’m very open to any critique on my challenges, so if you see any faults or ways to optimize, please do let me know in the comments (or on Discord if that’s more comfy for you). As I've mentioned in the past, I would like to keep running this challenge as long as there is interest, so feedback on how it's structured is actually very welcome.

Deadline for the Ekphrastic Challenge is July 21st, 2024 at 11:59 MST.

Good luck and happy writing, everyone!