The Rules

What

Write an open letter  to your younger self or the next generations as a whole

Check out some examples on The Unsealed:

To My Younger Self

To kids with a dream

Who

You must be over 18 and a member of The Unsealed Community. You can sign up for The Unsealed here

If you previously entered one of our “Write a letter to your younger self” contests, you can enter again with a new letter.

_{*no relatives or employees on The Unsealed are permitted to enter}

When

All Entries must be in by 11:59pm on August, 15, 2022 Eastern Time

Our finalists will be announced September 12th

Our winners will be announced  October 3rd

Letter Requirements

• Entries must be in English
• Letter must be typed and submitted below or you can email it to contests@theunsealed.com
• Letter must be true story about your life
• The letter can’t mention anyone’s name except yourself (Example: you can call someone a friend, a neighbor, a teammate or a family member but you can’t call them by their name, John Smith).
• The letter must be original writing from the person submitting the letter
• The letter must not have been published anywhere else
• The letter can’t be defamatory toward another person
• The letter must be 500- 1000 words
• Only one entry per person
• Include a headline for your letter and a photo that goes with your story (if there is another person in the photo please get their permission to post)

Rights

You will own the rights to your entry but by entering the contest you will give us permission/limited license to publish the letter and any pictures you provide on The Unsealed. You will also allow us to promote your entry on social media using your letter and the provided picture.

How it will be judged

The Unsealed will narrow it down to our finalists  and one winner based on the following:

• Organization that is logical and effective, is the letter easy to read and understand?
• Creativity/originality, is there anything that makes this letter unique?
• Message/insight – does the letter offer a thoughtful message?
• Impact/Inspirational – is the story powerful and inspirational?
• Accurately addresses the topic – does this letter share a an inspirational message?

The Unsealed will post the finalists (judged by professional writers). The Unsealed community will  choose 1st place winner based on the above criteria. The Unsealed community will vote on their favorite story for an additional prize. Voting will be counted from September 12th to October 1st at midnight ET. Members votes will count 5x as much as readers who are not members.

1st place – $400

2nd place $100 

*We pay via PayPal, Venmo or Zelle

Good Luck!