Seeking writers who made the cut, can you help?
Happy Friday,
There’s a beautiful and mysterious sentence in the Talmud, which is the Jewish book of moral and ethical debate. Here’s what it says.
Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'
It’s not about angels. It’s not even meant to be taken literally.
Everything yearns to grow.
That’s what it’s about.
Growth is a ubiquitous force of nature.
Not everything gets to grow. But everything yearns to grow. Whether it’s a tiny seed pushing through the ground, a toddler struggling to take first steps, or a writer bleeding onto the page and hitting submit with shaking fingers.
We all yearn to grow.
Not always physically. You know?
It started with an email I got Wednesday…
I was already smiling when I saw the subject line in my inbox.
It said “Vocal+ Fiction Contest - I made the finals!”
Screw the work emails, I opened that one first. One of my readers emailed to let me know she made the finals in the Vocal+ Fiction Writing Challenge.
First I went and read her entry. Then I wrote about it on Medium. And then a couple more writers posted in the comments to say they made the shortlist, too.
Wow, that felt good.
Only 7% of entries made the shortlist
It was crazy competitive. There were over 13,000 entries. Only 7% of entries made the shortlist. 1025 writers. Seems like a weird number, right? lol.
It’s not, really. Because 25 of those will get $5000 USD. The other 1000 will get a free one year membership. So they can keep trying for a whole year. Free.
To be in the top 7% is pretty amazing, I think.
I mean — for every 100 entries, 7 were shortlisted and 93 were not. That’s some rarified air right there. Even before the cash prizes are awarded :)
As always, reader response matters…
It would be nice if we lived in a world where the best entries always won, even if they had no reads. But that’s not how it works.
Hell, it’s not even how it works in the Pulitzers.
Taste is subjective, so we end up using majority vote as the deciding factor.
In the Vocal Challenge, if the judges are having trouble agreeing on the top 25, they’ll factor in reads and hearts to help them decide.
I thought maybe I could help with that a little, so I went to look at the list of shortlisted writers. I was hoping to find names that I recognized.
lol. Well hello, Pollyanna.
Talk about finding a needle in a haystack.
I’ve found five so far, but I bet there’s more.
Can you help?
If you entered and were shortlisted, or know a Medium writer who was — can you leave a comment with a link to the entry?
Thanks!
:)
P.S. Here’s the shortlist if you want to look at it, too.
More reading… (friend links so non-members can read free)
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Did you know if you click the heart or leave a comment, Substack gives you stars for being responsive? You don’t see them, but I do —so, thank you! :)
xo,
Linda