Abecedarian
Write an abecedarian poem.
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $200
- 10 Runners-up:
- $50
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jan 10, 2024
Submissions closed
Feb 03, 2024 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 16, 2024
Prizes
- Grand Prize:
- $500
- Second Place:
- $200
- 10 Runners-up:
- $50
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Jan 10, 2024
Submissions closed
Feb 03, 2024 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Feb 16, 2024
About this challenge
The Prompt
Write an abecedarian poem.
Welcome to our first abecedarian poetry challenge! In this unique form of poetry, each line progresses alphabetically, from A to Z. This means the first line starts with the letter A, the second line with B, and so on. Your poem should be 26 lines in total.
Your task is to craft a captivating piece, connecting diverse themes, emotions, or narratives while maintaining the alphabetical progression. Whether you're a seasoned poet or a novice, this challenge invites you to explore the intricate dance between language and structure. We hope this gets your creative juices flowing to kick off the new year.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must:
The Prizes
Special shout-out to Kay Husnick for suggesting this challenge idea in Share Your Ideas to Shape the Future of Vocal Challenges.
How to enter
For your poem to be eligible, it should be submitted to the Poets Community, follow the rules above, and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Poems published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until 11:59 PM ET on February 2, 2024 will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The Abecedarian 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 runners-up 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 countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
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Challenge resources
In Eclipse Challenge Winners
Creator Dane BH is one of our Vocal stalwarts. We’re so grateful to all of your in our Vocal community, and so thrilled by your achievements. This is the third time Dane has won one of our challenges, and she appears too on our Vocal podcast, Write Here, Write Now — take a listen if you haven’t already. But she’s not our winner because we know her: the subtlety and simplicity of we watched the world go dark. together. is what made it our winner of the In Eclipse challenge, with the grace and ease of its lines and observation. As it happens it also expresses the community spirit that means so much to us.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished 2 days ago in ResourcesWhispering Woods Challenge Winners
Congratulations to Morgan Christy Rickards for their winning Whispering Woods story, Guardian at the Gate. Morgan has been a Vocal creator since February 2021, and this is their first time placing in Challenge — well done, starting with a win! Guardian at the Gate draws evocatively from Welsh tales of the Cantre'r Gwaelod, a lost sunken kingdom between the forest and the sea. Heledd’s dangerous adventure pulls her towards the water but her spirit is anchored in the woods: Morgan’s writing is atmospheric and exciting.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished about a month ago in ResourcesSnacktime Sonata Challenge Winners
Well, your Snacktime Sonatas made us hungry, and that’s about the highest compliment we have. Food — taste, smell, sensation — is a powerful conduit to the past, to memories pleasurable and painful and sometimes bittersweet, a mixture of comfort and challenge. Congratulations to Penny Fuller for Sativa — it’s a first win for Penny — a hymn to the “secret, unbounded/freedoms” of fresh peas in the pod. The narrative voice of the poem doesn’t really want to be outside, but finds joy in the green things of the earth; this is a lovely work of resilience.
Vocal Curation TeamPublished about a month ago in Resources