![](https://res.cloudinary.com/jerrick/image/upload/c_fill,f_jpg,g_auto,h_670,q_auto,w_670/5ed02c0511f355001eb20792.jpg)
Flashback
Share a memory that makes you smile.
Prizes
- First place:
- $1,000
- Second place:
- $500
- Third place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
May 29, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 05, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 09, 2020
Prizes
- First place:
- $1,000
- Second place:
- $500
- Third place:
- $250
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
May 29, 2020
Submissions closed
Jun 05, 2020 3:59 AM CUT
Results
Jun 09, 2020
About this challenge
Let's take a moment to remember what we were doing just a couple of months back—even though it sure feels like an entire lifetime ago. As we scroll through our camera roll, all the way back to our last "normal" photo, pre-quarantine, we realize how different our lives are now compared to that snapshot. Whether that photo is a selfie you sent to a friend to show that you were "on your way!", or a photo of your last meal out, or even a photo of a party you attended, we want to see what your last moment of normalcy looked like. Tell us about this photo, and what you were doing, who you were with, and how it makes you feel now.
This week is all about that flashback moment that makes you smile. Enter this week's Challenge and join us in reliving the good times—a little reminder that this too shall pass.
Tips
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: when it comes to media, the more the merrier! Share that last normal photo but definitely don't hold back on adding any other images that remind you of that moment. You're also welcome to include a playlist that takes you back to the time when the photo was taken, or anything else that you think will give us a better understanding of what was going on.
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 4, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Flashback Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.
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.
Challenge resources
Travel Snaps Challenge Winners
Travel changes us — if we let its lessons in. It’s possible to wander the world, even to take pictures, with our eyes as good as closed, never opening to the new self that a new place might make of us. So many of the entries to our Travel Snaps challenge were by creators who really wanted to look at the world, and themselves, anew. They were all inspiring to read — and to see, because photography was an important part of this competition. To us, the ‘quality’ of the photographs wasn’t the point; it was that these images were yours. It was a reminder of how much more that can mean — certainly when it comes to personal essays — than widely available or AI images. We really loved seeing these snaps.
By Vocal Curation Team12 days ago in Resources
Poemosaurus Rex Challenge Winners
Hard to conceive, now, how extraordinary it would have been to find the bones of those terrible lizards in the earth — in a time before humans had conceived of anything other than a Great Chain of Being, a static creation. Yet long after Darwin they still have a hold over us, these creatures which are the ancestors of sparrows and seagulls. All hail the dinosaur! They are at once real and mythic, objects of science and objects of wonder, exhibitions in museums and children’s toys. No wonder Vocal Creators responded with such a variety of work to our Poemosaurus prompt.
By Vocal Curation Team17 days ago in Resources
Just a Minute Challenge Winners
Thanks again to Vocal Creator, Breezy, for suggesting the Just a Minute Challenge — one which you all interpreted in a wonderful variety of ways. Sometimes a minute can feel like an eternity, sometimes it can pass in the blink of an eye… to describe the passing of sixty seconds is no simple matter.
By Vocal Curation Teamabout a month ago in Resources