SWS: You Were Never Really Here Challenge Winners

Welcome to the first Winners Announcement of the Vocal+ Summer Writing Series! As you may already know, we're switching up the format a bit for Challenges this summer.

The placement structure is as follows:

5 Winners: $200 Each

15 Runners-up: $15 Each

10 Honorable Mentions: $5

With over $15,000 in prizes across 12 prompts, we’ve been loving the submissions so far. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the winners of You Were Never Really Here.

For this challenge, we invited you to write about someone who vanished, someone imagined, or someone who never existed at all, and you answered with stories that linger. Stories that whispered, haunted, or unraveled into something unforgettable.

Here are the ones that stayed with us.

🏆 Winners

The Imagined Life of Ana Luzia Morales by Jennifer Vasallo

Jennifer Vasallo’s 'The Imagined Life of Ana Luzia Morales' imagines a life so detailed and dimensional, it’s easy to forget Ana Luzia never existed. What struck us most wasn’t just the creativity behind the concept, but the care in its execution. It's a memory that reads like a real legacy.

Stitch Count by Autumn S.

'Stitch Count' by Autumn S. unfolds like something stitched by hand slowly, carefully, and full of feeling. It doesn’t try to explain the loss at its center. It simply lets us sit with it, which somehow says even more.

The Absence of Me. by Stacey Mataxis Whitlow (SMW)

Stacey Mataxis Whitlow’s 'The Absence of Me.' stood out for how deeply it leans into the idea of vanishing, whether physical, emotional, or existential. It’s sparse, eerie, and poetic. This story left us feeling both unsettled and grateful for the risk it took.

The Most Famous Woman On The Planet by Casara Clark

Casara Clark’s 'The Most Famous Woman On The Planet' plays with presence and perception. It walks the line between myth and memory, leaving us unsure what was imagined and what was lost. We were hooked from the start.

Still by T. E. Door

T. E. Door’s 'Still' is one of those stories that says so much with so little. It draws its power from atmosphere and suggestion, letting silence and shadow do the heavy lifting.

🎖️ Runners-up

• Looking For The Devil by Shaun Walters
• Outline by Mackenzie Davis
• Shadowlight by Gina C.
• She Feared This All Along by Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA
• The Space Between Words by Neli Ivanova
• Unknowable by Morgana
• The True Story of Sam by Tim Carmichael
• Ghosts of Chablis by Gus Gresham
• The Sister Who Never Was by Jelly
• The Room for Eliza by Luna Jordan
• Thirty-Nine Six O’Clocks and Counting by Cristal Beikd
• Between Victoria and Seven Sisters You Were Perfect by Lauren Everdell
• Find me in the gold. by Morgan Longford
• Comfort Character by Cacia Gillian
• The Never-Weres by Emily McGuff

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• Your Love Outlived You by Nia Knox
• Edmund, Are You There? by Lora Coleman
• Yours, Nick by Alexander McEvoy
• Losing Myself in the Badlands by Mary K Brackett
• Fractured Time by Alyssa Nicole
• If smoke were solid by Daniel K
• Ghosting by Rachel Robbins
• The Empty Chair by Michelle Liew
• Burning the Pages of the Book of Life by Sam Spinelli
• Blossom by Lark Hanshan

Check out the latest on Vocal Challenges.