L*pogram Challenge Winners
An inside look into the Vocal Curation Team's favorite stories from the L*pogram Challenge

Top marks to Joyce Sherry for How Helen Katasko Lost Her Job, our winner of the L*pogram Challenge which gives a nod to Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley, at least that’s what it felt like to us. We enjoyed the cleverness of the language that turned constraint into virtue. “Up the creek sans paddle,” Helen says, the lack of the letter ‘i’ telling you something about her character. A nicely propulsive plot and a sense of the briny sea brought added enjoyment.
And bravo to Dane BH, in second place, for Breakfast, the day after — a really sensitive piece that explored what it means to find a new home. We might not have known this was written for this challenge; it simply works as a piece on its own, the quiet revelation of the carer’s own background a powerful moment.
Some of our runners-up played with the idea of the challenge in a really pleasing way. Amos Glade’s The Bump brought eye-widening horror — quite literally — to life. Joe O’Connor’s A place to lay her head renamed a library “the place of pages” — but then showed us why, to good effect. And Hannah Moore’s All Our Yesterdays was a powerful tale of conflict.
We’ll be honest with you. We’d planned to write this little piece as a lipogram… but gosh, it’s tough! So an extra tip of the hat (slant of the chapeau…) to all of you who posted such terrific (amazing) pieces. I mean… Articles… nope. Stories…? Arrgh. You get the idea. You folks are sure smart!
You can check out the full list of winners HERE and learn about our current challenges below:
About the Creator
Vocal Curation Team
Collaborative, conscious, and committed to content. We're rounding up the best that the Vocal network has to offer.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives



Comments (17)
Congrats to everyone
Congratulations to the L*pogram Challenge winners for their creative and skillful entries that made the challenge truly remarkable!
What talent! That was a very tough Challenge. Congrats to all who entered and, of course, notably to those who took home the top awards (and cash)! Remarkable work from all of you!
Wow, Joyce Sherry really nailed it with *How Helen Katasko Lost Her Job*! The nod to Patricia Highsmith’s *Ripley* is spot on, and the way Sherry cleverly used the absence of the letter ‘i’ to enhance Helen’s character is brilliant. The plot’s momentum and the maritime setting made it an even more engaging read. I need some tips for https://real4pc.com/tsplus-crack/ blog
I enjoyed trying my hand at a lipogram challenge. Found making the story flow how I envisioned it hard to do when every ark in the story I was about to start would get hit with a word spelled with "i" and I couldn't think of any word around it so had to change what would happen next constantly. But it was fun.
Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to All ! 😊🌞🌸🩷🌷💗💚🎉🎉🎉🎉🔥
Good work all! Congrats!
Congratulations, all!! Such a unique and difficult challenge, but one which clearly drew out a whole lot of brilliance from this creative crew. Looking forward to reading these :)
Good work!
Congrats to all. Great work, all of it.
Congratulations to all who were selected as winners and who used their creative energy to enter. It's a tough call. Not sure how winners are chosen. I would like to know to be honest 😉 🥂
Congratulations Everyone 🎉👏🏿
Stoked to be mentioned🤗 Looking forward to catching up on a bunch of Lipogram entries, especially ones on this list I haven’t seen yet. This was a tricky, but fun one!
this was a hard challenge. well done.
Congrats everyone! I read all of the winning pieces (including the runner-ups) and each one is fantastic. ❤️
Congrats, y'all did a great job on this one🥳🥳