The Moment of Freedom
Write about freedom. Do good for Ukraine.
Prizes
- Donation:
- In lieu of prize money, Vocal will donate $10,000 to United Help Ukraine.
Additionally, we will recognize the 50 most powerful and inspiring stories in a special Vocal collection.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Mar 08, 2022
Submissions closed
Apr 06, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Apr 19, 2022
Prizes
- Donation:
- In lieu of prize money, Vocal will donate $10,000 to United Help Ukraine.
Additionally, we will recognize the 50 most powerful and inspiring stories in a special Vocal collection.
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Mar 08, 2022
Submissions closed
Apr 06, 2022 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Apr 19, 2022
About this challenge
*Note from the Vocal Team: As indicated, there are no prize results to be announced for this Challenge, only a $10,000 donation to United Help Ukraine which was sent on March 22, 2022. To view a special curated collection of stories from this Challenge, click here.
There are moments when art and creativity can seem small in the grand scheme of current events. And yet, creating during hard times helps us process and understand not only ourselves but each other.
Support and stand with Ukraine by joining the Moment of Freedom Challenge. Write a short story, essay, poem or personal account about freedom—the fight for it, the belief in it, the joy of it. Write about your personal experiences with freedom, how it impacts you, your community, anyone (or anything) you hold dear. Large or small, trivial or vital to your sense of self, we want to hear what freedom means to you.
Rather than awarding cash prizes, we’re going to donate $10,000 to United Help Ukraine. Once the Challenge is over, the Vocal Team will publish a collection of the 50 most powerful and inspiring stories. We encourage everyone to spread the word so we can support Ukraine through our art, together.
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it should be between 600 and 5,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until April 5, 2022, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
To be eligible to enter the Challenge, you must be over the age of 13.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
Craft Over Catharsis
Write a story that prioritizes structure, technique, or form over emotional release.
$200 Grand Prize4 days leftInstructions for a Feeling
Write a poem that gives instructions for how to experience, create, or avoid a feeling.
$200 Grand Prize9 days leftRituals of Affection
Write a story about a recurring ritual tied to love, romance, or connection. Something about it is unusual, unsettling, or unexplained.
$200 Grand Prize11 days leftThe Unnecessary Line
Write a poem that includes one line that does not strictly belong and let the tension it creates remain unresolved.
$200 Grand Prize18 days leftA System That Isn’t Working
Write about a system, whether social, economic, cultural, technological, or otherwise, that feels broken or misaligned.
$200 Grand Prize25 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 Prize32 days leftThe Haiku of Now
Write a haiku that captures a small, precise moment from the present without reflection or commentary.
$200 Grand Prize37 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 Prize39 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 Prize46 days leftSay It Plainly
Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
$200 Grand Prize53 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 Prize58 days left
Challenge resources
Instructions Included Challenge Winners
For the Instructions Included challenge, we asked writers to tell a story through instructions and to trust the form to carry what could not be said outright. Across the top entries, that trust paid off in many different ways.
By Vocal Curation Team5 days ago in Resources
The Ritual of Winter Challenge Winners
Welcome to the Winners Announcement for The Ritual of Winter challenge. This prompt focused on winter rituals and the meaning that settles into them over time. The top pieces stay grounded in ordinary acts and repeated routines, letting winter shape the work through pace, attention, and restraint.
By Vocal Curation Team24 days ago in Resources
