On the Rocks
Share your perfect summer drink recipe.
Prizes
- First Place:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $500
- Third Place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 19, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 26, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 30, 2020
Prizes
- First Place:
- $1,000
- Second Place:
- $500
- Third Place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 19, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 26, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 30, 2020
About this challenge
We could use a little refreshment, and we'd love your help. Share your ultimate summer drink recipe, complete with rims, garnishes, and serving suggestions—cocktail or mocktail, all are welcome.
Whether you're beating the heat with your own version of a classic, or you want to share a recipe that's totally original, we want to know what you’ll be making to stay refreshed and cool this summer. Tell us what you’re using, how you’re making it, and how you suggest we best enjoy it.
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 June 25, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The On the Rocks Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://customer-opinion.top/vocal-plus%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E.%3C/p%3E%3Cp class="css-1923z11-Text">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 35 countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
A System That Isn’t Working
Write about a system, whether social, economic, cultural, technological, or otherwise, that feels broken or misaligned.
$200 Grand Prize2 days leftEveryone Is Acting Normally
Write a story in which something is clearly wrong but all characters behave as if everything is normal.
$200 Grand Prize9 days leftThe Haiku of Now
Write a haiku that captures a small, precise moment from the present without reflection or commentary.
$200 Grand Prize13 days leftWhat the Myth Gets Wrong
Write a story set in a world where a well-known myth exists that focuses on a detail the myth simplifies, ignores, or distorts.
$200 Grand Prize15 days leftSomething Is Beginning, I Think
Write a story that opens at the edge of a beginning that feels uncertain, partial, or reluctant and avoid resolution.
$200 Grand Prize22 days leftSay It Plainly
Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
$200 Grand Prize29 days leftThe Rule Everyone Knows
Write a story centered on an unspoken rule that everyone in the story understands and follows, allowing the rule to emerge through behavior.
$200 Grand Prize34 days left
Challenge resources
Mismatch Challenge Winners
Blending genres isn’t about stacking elements side by side. It’s about what happens when two sets of expectations refuse to cooperate. The strongest entries in the Mismatch Challenge understood that tension and leaned into it. Rather than smoothing the edges, these stories let their chosen genres complicate one another, creating friction that carried through voice, structure, and consequence.
By Vocal Curation Team14 days ago in Resources
Public Announcement Challenge Winners
For the Public Announcement Challenge, writers were asked to work inside voices built for control. These were notices, warnings, and updates meant to inform rather than confess. The strongest entries committed to that form and didn't break from it. Corporate memos, formal government alerts, and internal policy language were held consistently, allowing emotion, fear, grief, or humor to surface indirectly through pressure rather than declaration. The following poems recognize the voice of authority, and let human feeling slip through despite all its rules and restraint.
By Vocal Curation Team19 days ago in Resources
