Voices for Change
Black lives matter. Create a story to educate others, or share your experiences.
Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 02, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 25, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 26, 2020
Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jun 02, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 25, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 26, 2020
About this challenge
In Lieu of Prizes
Up to $2,500 donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
About
We always tell you that as our creators, you're our partners. This means we’re here to support you, but also to amplify your voices and listen to what you have to say. This week, in light of the heavy weight on the most vulnerable communities and the pressing conversations that need to be had openly and honestly, we’re introducing you to a new kind of Challenge.
For this Challenge, instead of dividing you all in friendly competition, we’re challenging you all as a community to come together and have those conversations. There won’t be a winner chosen, and we won’t be giving a cash prize to any single individual.
Instead, we’re giving you an open floor to tell us what you want people to know in light of the international conversations sparked by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and so many others lost to racist violence. Maybe that’s elaborating on your experiences as a Black person in America; maybe that’s you as a nonblack person sharing resources and lessons that you think your nonblack peers need to engage with. Create a story that takes the opportunity to educate others, share your own past experiences, or to share what you hope comes as a result of this huge cultural movement.
We want to challenge you all to share your voices, so our goal is to receive at least 250 entries to this Challenge by June 24 at 11:59pm EST. For the first 250 eligible entries we receive, we're pledging $10 per story to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which works to legally fight civil and human rights violations for the most vulnerable communities.
How to enter
In order for your story to be eligible, it must adhere to our Community Guidelines, and be applicable to, cognizant of, and respectful of the international conversations taking place about race inspired by protests around the United States. This Challenge is a place for the most vulnerable voices to speak candidly—entries that are determined by the Vocal team to be inflammatory, instigating, diminishing, or disrespectful in the context of these cultural conversations will be removed from the Challenge.
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 Prize24 minutes leftEveryone Is Acting Normally
Write a story in which something is clearly wrong but all characters behave as if everything is normal.
$200 Grand Prize7 days leftThe Haiku of Now
Write a haiku that captures a small, precise moment from the present without reflection or commentary.
$200 Grand Prize11 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 Prize13 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 Prize20 days leftSay It Plainly
Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
$200 Grand Prize27 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 Prize32 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 Team16 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 Team21 days ago in Resources
