The Rules

What

Write a poem or a letter to yourself about your goals for the new year (2023)

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

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

When

All Entries must be in by 11:59pm on January 16th

Our finalists will be announced March 15th,

VOTING ENDS APRIL 14th at 11:59pm ET

Our winners will be announced  April 17th

Letter Requirements

• Entries must be in English
• Letter/poem must be typed and submitted below or you can email it to contests@theunsealed.com
• Letter/poem must be a true story about your life
• The letter/poem 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/poem must be original writing from the person submitting the letter
• The letter/poem must not have been published anywhere else
• The letter/poem can’t be defamatory toward another person
• The letter/poem must be 100- 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 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 March 15sth to April 14th  at 11:59pm ET. Members’ votes will count 5x as much as readers who are not members.

1st place – $200

2nd place (based on votes) $50 

*We pay via PayPal, Venmo or Zelle

Good Luck!