The Ritual of Winter
Share a personal essay or creative nonfiction piece about a winter ritual.
Prizes
- 5 Winners:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
- 10 Honorable Mentions:
- $5
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Sep 17, 2025
Submissions closed
Dec 18, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Jan 09, 2026
Prizes
- 5 Winners:
- $200
- 15 Runners-up:
- $15
- 10 Honorable Mentions:
- $5
Status
CompletedTimeline
Submissions opened
Sep 17, 2025
Submissions closed
Dec 18, 2025 4:59 AM CUT
Results
Jan 09, 2026
About this challenge
The Prompt
Share a personal essay or creative nonfiction piece about a winter ritual.
Winter carries its own rhythms. Candles lit against the dark. Meals prepared and shared. Traditions that mark the season, whether inherited, invented, or quietly personal.
This prompt invites you to reflect on a ritual that belongs to winter. It might be cultural, it might be intimate, or it might be entirely your own.
Write like the season itself is guiding the memory.
In order for your submission to qualify, it must be:
- A personal essay or creative nonfiction piece.
- Between 500 and 2,500 words.
- Submitted to the Humans community. Your story will be disqualified if it is submitted to any other community.
- Submitted before December 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST.
- Your work must be original and unpublished.
The Prizes
- 5 Winners: $200 each
- 15 Runners-up: $15 each
- 10 Honorable Mentions: $5 each
How to enter
For your story to be eligible, it must be between 500 and 2,500 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines.
Stories published on Vocal and entered into the Challenge up until December 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.
The The Ritual of Winter Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+, visit https://shopping-feedback.today/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, you must be over the age of 13 and reside 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 a Stripe account created and connected to receive prizes. Entrants located outside of these countries will not be eligible to win.
Open challenges
Challenges you can enter now for a chance to win.
Small Heat
Write a haiku about a small source of warmth during winter.
$200 Grand Prize12 hours leftInstructions Included
Tell a story in the form of instructions, guidelines, or a how-to manual for something fictional or mundane.
$200 Grand Prize7 days leftNothing But Voices
Write a complete short story using only dialogue. No descriptions, no dialogue tags, and no internal thoughts. Just voices on the page.
$200 Grand Prize14 days leftPublic Announcement
Write a poem that takes the form of a public announcement, notice, or warning.
$200 Grand Prize19 days leftMismatch
Write a story that blends two contrasting genres, such as horror and romance, science fiction and western, or fantasy and noir.
$200 Grand Prize21 days leftCraft Over Catharsis
Write a story that prioritizes structure, technique, or form over emotional release.
$200 Grand Prize28 days leftInstructions for a Feeling
Write a poem that gives instructions for how to experience, create, or avoid a feeling.
$200 Grand Prize33 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 Prize35 days left
Challenge 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 Teamabout an hour ago in Resources
FPS: The Last Flame Challenge Winners
Welcome to our first Winners Announcement of the year and to the final challenge in the Fall Poetry Series. The Last Flame invited writers to sit with endings, using fire as a central image to consider what remains when something burns out: ash, warmth, memory, silence, or the faint promise of what comes next. The strongest pieces treated endings as gradual rather than sudden, allowing them to flicker, dim, and linger.
By Vocal Curation Team2 days ago in Resources
FPS: Villanelle of Regret Challenge Winners
Some feelings don’t fade. They repeat. The Villanelle of Regret challenged poets to write into that return. To let regret, longing, and obsession build with each pass, rather than resolve. The strongest entries trusted repetition to carry the weight.
By Vocal Curation Team28 days ago in Resources
