Set 1

COMMENTS FIRST:
Start by gathering 3 or more comments for an audio fanwork that doesn't exist yet. (If you want the audio fanwork to be of a text that exists, link it to the commenters to read before their fake comments on the audio fanwork.) Then create that audio fanwork, either by creating a new text and recording it to fit the comments, or by recording the text you linked in a way that fits with the comments.
Inspired by ShakespeareStoleMyURL

Point value: 5 points for writing a comment, 35 points for contributing to an audio fanwork based on the comments. Please note that each player may only write one comment per work, and that anyone who writes a comment for the work may not contribute to creating the audio fanwork itself.

START FRESH:
Clean a room (or part of a room). Record an audio fanwork in your newly cleaned location.
Inspired by KeriArentikai

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Set 2

SECRET SANTA:
Any team members who want to participate will put their name into a (metaphorical) hat, and then each person will draw one person's name out of the hat. Whoever's name you draw, you will create one or more secret gifts for them during Mystery Box. These gifts might be audio fanworks, cover art, comments, fics geared to their interests, recs of things they might like, funny posts and memes, offers of fannish services such as help editing or backing up their audio fanworks, etc. You may choose to make a wishlist of the kind of things you'd like from your Secret Santa, to help them think of gifts that will make you happy!

All communication to your giftee should be anonymous—your team mod can pass along messages for you if you have questions or just want to send them fun anonymous clues about what you're cooking up for them! Any gifts that can be given anonymously like comments or cover art can be shared right away, but non-anonymous gifts (like those that recognizably have your voice in them) should only be given after challenges have closed.
Suggested by Jocunda Sykes

Point value: 25 points per gift for your giftee (+10 if the gift is an audio fanwork or involves significant effort)

DOUBLE DIP:
Create an audio fanwork that you will be able to use for a current or upcoming fest. If you’re not sure whether a past fest will run again but think it is likely to, it still counts for this challenge.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes

Set 3

LIVE DANGEROUSLY:
Create an audio fanwork that could be described as not safe for work (NSFW). Feel free to interpret this as an explicit rating, as unsafe working conditions, or as a different creative interpretation if you can think of one!
Inspired by Notori

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes

TEA FOR TWO:
Team up with another player to create a collaborative audio fanwork. Both players should contribute to the recording, whether by performing lines, singing, or creating sound effects. Bonus points if this isn't a person you have significantly collaborated with before.
Suggested by Jocunda Sykes

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes, +5 if the pair collaborating on the audio fanwork haven't significantly collaborated before.

Set 4

B-I-N-G-O:
The mods will pair up teams, and for the first 48 hours, your team will create a 5 x 5 bingo card for your partner team. After the 48 hours, teams will trade cards, and from that point on players earn points for any fanwork you make that contributes to at least one teamwide bingo. If your team achieves a blackout, everyone who contributed to the blackout gets an additional bonus.

Point value: 5 points for contributing to the bingo card for the other team, 35 points for each player who contributes to an audio fanwork that is part of a teamwide bingo. If your team achieves a blackout, +15 bonus points each for every team member who contributed to an audio fanwork for this challenge.

MAKE IT RAIN:
With a group, pick a podfic to listen to together and then individually comment on. Bonus points if it's a Voiceteam work that had 0 comments at the time you chose it to listen to it.
Suggested by buries

Point value: 15 points for each player who listens and comments as part of a group, +5 if the audio fanwork is a Voiceteam work that had 0 comments at the time you chose it.

Set 5

BREAK THROUGH:
Think of a project you'd like to do related to audio fanworks but there's something blocking your way. This could be an old project you'd like to finish but you got blocked or lost steam midway through, a long-held dream project you haven't acted on for some reason, or a new project you think is interesting but find overwhelming in some way. Either on your own or with help, get past the block and make progress on that project.
Inspired by horchatapods

Point value: 20 points for making progress, or helping someone else make progress, on a blocked project related to audio fanworks, +15 points if you complete a project you were blocked on.

FAN IN THE MIRROR:
Review what you've achieved in the past 12 months and write a blog post/meta roundup of at least 500 words, discussing the fanworks you created, what you were proud of, where you'd like to be next year, and what you'd like to do next year. This can discuss any kind of fanwork created, but it should spend significant time on audio fanworks—new podficcers who don't have audio fanworks to reflect on from this year can still write about audio fanwork goals for next year!
Suggested by Jocunda Sykes

Point value: 40 points for writing and posting your reflection and goals. This challenge can only be completed once.

klb

UNCHAINED MELODY:
Create filks with your team's theme song.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

BUY YOURSELF FLOWERS:
Listen to an audio fanwork of yours and write yourself a comment of all the things you love about it. You don't have to share it, but you could—it would probably make a pretty good self-rec!

Point value: 20 points per comment.

BE HERE NOW:
Sit down to record an audio fanwork without having done any pre-planning for what you will record. Choose the fandom and story only after you are all set up to record. Follow your whims in that exact moment! Choosing off a pre-made list is okay, but it must either be a list you created before this challenge began or a list created by somebody else.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

NICK OF TIME:
Finish and submit an audio fanwork you began before this round of Voiceteam started. The work cannot have been previously submitted for Voiceteam points.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Thank you to carboncopies for suggesting this challenge!

IN THEIR SHOES:
Record something featuring a favourite thing (ship, character, trope, audio format, story element) of one of your team members. The team member in question may not contribute to this work for points.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Thanks to Jetainia for this challenge idea!

From Mystery Box 2020

INSPIRED BY:
Create a fanwork inspired by an existing audio fanwork made by someone on your team. Your fanwork could be audio, visual, a poem, acting out a scene with hand puppets, or whatever you want.

Point value: 20 points for each player who contributes, +20 points if it requires significant time, effort, or energy on your part.

From Voiceteam 2021

BACK UP YOUR JUNK:
Choose 10 of your already-posted audio fanworks and add links to one other hosting website to extend longevity of the fanwork. (If you haven't posted 10 podfics, you get the points for adding additional links to all the ones you have posted.) Bonus points for every 5 podfics you back up beyond the original 10.

Posting a fanwork that has been submitted for Voiceteam but not yet posted is a valid interpretation of backing up that fanwork.

Point value: 30 points for the first set of audio fanworks backed up. +10 points for every 5 additional audio fanworks backed up.

Thanks to Jocunda Sykes for suggesting this challenge!

From Mystery Box 2022

TALK BACK:
Either live-listen to or live-record an audio fanwork with at least one other Voiceteam player. Then co-record some kind of live audio response to the audio fanwork you just experienced together. The audio response must be at least 5 minutes long and could be a discussion of the story, a notfic prequel/sequel/story that happens between scenes, a reaction to the podfic itself, or something else.

Point value: 25 points for an audio response to a shared listening experience. 45 points for submitting a shared recording experience plus audio response.

From Voiceteam 2023

YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:
Complete your team's mission. Bonus for guessing other teams' missions. Bigger bonus for keeping your own mission secret.

(You will find your team's mission ten minutes from now in your team channels. You know where.)

Point value: 35 points for each fanwork submitted that contributes to your mission. If your team correctly guesses another team's mission, every team member who contributed to your team's mission earns 10 points. If no other team correctly guesses your team's mission, every team member who contributed to the mission earns 50 points.

This challenge is taking the place of the Mod Dare in Round 3.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY:
Combine two or more previous Voiceteam challenges.

Point value: Base of 20 points for a non-audio-fanwork project that combines at least two challenges, or 35 points for an audio fanwork that combines at least two challenges. Bonuses of +10 points if the project combines at least five challenges, +15 points if it combines at least ten challenges, or +20 points if it combines at least fifteen challenges. (Bonuses do not stack.)

Thanks to Schittposting and SerenaEW for inspiring this challenge. And happy fifth Voiceteam anniversary to us all!

klb

AND THE BAND PLAYS ON:
Create a non-filk audio fanwork with a title that is a lyric from your team's theme song.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

THE EXACT RIGHT NUMBER OF COOKS:
Everyone on your team who wants to can submit a single audio clip up to 10 seconds long. Players are not allowed to discuss ahead of time what clips they will submit or listen to anyone else’s clip before submitting their own.

Once all the clips are in, create an audio fanwork, with a cohesive plot, that incorporates as many of your team’s clips as possible. This audio fanwork (e.g. filk, podfic, oral not!fic) may also include any other words, music, sound effects, etc that you want!

Point value: 10 points for submitting your clip. 40 points for creating an audio fanwork that incorporates at least 3 clips, +5 points for each additional clip incorporated.

LISTEN TO THIS!:
Create an audio rec of a podfic that you did not make. Your audio rec should be under 5 minutes, and it must include a snippet of the podfic you are reccing as well as your own voice explaining why you recommend it.

Point value: 25 points per recommendation.

SOAPBOX:
Write podfic meta about anything. Minimum length of 500 words or 3 minutes of audio.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Thank you to Jocunda Sykes for suggesting this challenge!

FRESH NEW SOUND:
Create an audio fanwork in which you give at least one character a character voice that you have not used in an audio fanwork before. Silly voices are encouraged!

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH:
Podfic a story that's at least a week old and has fewer than 100 hits.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Thank you to Jocunda Sykes for inspiring this challenge!

MAKE A MULTIVOICE:
Make a multivoice fanwork (podfic or oral not!fic) with multiple team members, at least two of whom share that fandom.

Point value: 35 points for each team member who contributes.

From Voiceteam 2020

INTO THE UNKNOWN:
A player sets some parameters (e.g. max length, rating, trope preferences, vetoed fandoms) and teammates can suggest works to record in fandoms the player isn't in. The person who found the fic should be prepared to assist with pronunciation or context. If the podfic is a multivoice, the player who set the parameters must have the largest role.

Point value: 15 points for finding the fic, or 35 points for contributing to the podfic. (Note: If the person who found the fic also contributes to the podfic, they receive 35 points, not 50.)

From Mystery Box 2021

SPREAD THE WORD:
Promote the concept of permission statements (optionally including the Fandom Permission Statements website) on journals/social media sites/etc. to encourage more authors to post permission statements. Posts you make should be significant promo and not just a retweet/reblog. Bonus points for each permission statement posted in direct response to your promo. The bonus applies for ANY permission statement posted, not just blanket yes!

Point value: 20 points for each promo, +5 bonus points for each new permission statement posted.

From Voiceteam 2022

SNUGGLE UP:
Find a way to be extra cozy while creating an audio fanwork. This might be recording in your favorite comfy clothes, with your favorite stuffy or comfort object, with an extra cozy-feeling drink, or decorating your recording space with some cozy new decorations. If you are contributing cover art, editing, etc to someone else's recording, you must also find a way to make yourself extra cozy while doing so!

For those in the Northern Hemisphere or a tropical climate, feel free to consider "cool and refreshed" a valid interpretation of cozy for the purposes of this challenge!

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

From Mystery Box 2024

klb

THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG:
Each team will choose a theme song—a non-filk song that embodies your team's spirit. Once the song is chosen, you will earn points for every podfic a team member contributes to that includes this song as intro, outro, interstitial, or background music.

Please note: this challenge may only be fulfilled with podfic and not with other audio fanworks.

Point value: 10 points for choosing the song. (Once the song is chosen, everyone who weighed in on the decision will earn the points). 35 points for each player who contributes to a podfic that incorporates the chosen song.

GUEST OF HONOR:
Find or create something (an object, a picture, a living creature, etc) that would make a good audience for the audio fanwork you want to create. As you record, perform your story TO that audience. You should have a reason for why you chose this audience for this particular fanwork—the reason can be as silly or serious as you want—and the audience must be physically present when you record. You cannot use the same audience twice.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes. In multivoice creations, everyone who contributes voice needs to have an audience in order to get points. Other contributors, such as editors or cover artists, do not need their own audience.

Thanks to ShakespeareStoleMyURL for inspiring this challenge!

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK:
Listen to a new-to-you podfic while doing something you have been meaning to do and have put off. (If the task isn't something you can multitask with podfic, you can do it first and then use a podfic as your reward for finishing.)

Bonus points for commenting after you finish listening (and perhaps telling the podficcer what they helped you do)!

Point value: 20 points for listening and doing the task, +10 points for commenting.

STORE BOUGHT GENDER:
Create an audio fanwork where the main POV character is agender, genderfluid, multigender, non-binary, or trans. The character's gender does not need to be the focus of the story.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

Thank you to Ghostcwtch for suggesting this challenge!

PODFICCER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY:
Create a podfic-centered tour of your fandom. What are some podfic-friendly authors or places? What quirks or the canon or fanon might pose challenge or cool opportunities when recording? What resources might podficcers in this fandom find useful? What challenges welcome podfic, or what are some other podficcers or specific podfics that are great to listen to?

Point value: 30 points for each player who contributes, +10 points if you put in significant effort (screenshots, significant organization, links and examples, creative format, etc).

PODFIC BACKWARDS:
Podfic backwards. It's up to you to decide what that means. NO FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS ALLOWED.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

IF YOU BUILD IT:
Plan an audio-based or audio-inclusive event that doesn’t yet exist but should totally exist. It could be realistic or totally fanciful—this is a hypothetical plan and there’s no requirement to actually put it into action. This plan can take whatever form you choose—could just be vague notes, an audio brainstorming session, mocking up graphics/Rules/FAQ/etc for the event, etc. (But the more detailed the plan, the more chances for lots of players to contribute and get points!)

Point value: 30 points for each player who contributes.

Thanks to

bluedreaming for suggesting this challenge!

From Mystery Box 2020

PRIDE OF PLACE:
Record outdoors or next to an open window. Bonus points if the setting of the story matches the setting you are in.

Point value: 35 points, +10 if the setting of the story matches the setting it is recorded in.

From Voiceteam 2023

PASSION PROJECT:
Think of a fic that is one of your very top favorites but that you have not recorded a podfic of. Perhaps it is intimidatingly good, or already has a podfic version you love, or is too long, or you just haven't gotten around to it. Record a 500-1500 word snippet of that fic. You can record up to 5 snippets of the same fic.

Point value: 30 points.

From Mystery Box 2023

ROLE MODEL:
Listen to a teammate's podfic. Then create a podfic with at least one overlapping character, where your interpretation of that character is inspired by their performance.

Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes.

From Voiceteam 2024

eafay70

Set 1

PODFIC RADIO:
Chip in to the creation of a Voiceteam-wide fictional radio station! Each team will create their own mini radio show made up of different short segments. Possible segments include: (filk) songs, commercials, weather, news, skits/radio dramas/stories, or anything else you can dream up that you might hear on the radio! See this doc for more information and examples.
Once your team has contributed their segments, one or two team members should edit them together to make a radio show. Here’s an example of an edited-together radio show from VT2021!
Point value: 35 points per segment for each player who contributes. Each unique segment you contribute to earns points separately. Whoever coordinates the segments and pieces them together should give themselves a Project Lead Bonus!
Thank you to fishandchipsandvinegar for helping put together this challenge and creating the resource doc!

SNUGGLE UP:
Find a way to be extra cozy while creating an audio fanwork. This might be recording in your favorite comfy clothes, with your favorite stuffy or comfort object, with an extra cozy-feeling drink, or decorating your recording space with some cozy new decorations. If you are contributing cover art, editing, etc to someone else's recording, you must also find a way to make yourself extra cozy while doing so!
For those in the Southern Hemisphere or a tropical climate, feel free to consider "cool and refreshed" a valid interpretation of cozy for the purposes of this challenge!
Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes

Set 2

GOOD TALK:
Choose a fic and have a book-club-style discussion about it with one or more other players. In this discussion, you might dig into characters, author choices, themes, etc. The discussion can be either via voice chat or text, and it does not need to be recorded or submitted to the mods.
Then either simulpod or multivoice that fic.
Point value: 40 points for each player who contributes to a discussion (which does not need to be submitted) and podfic (which does need to be submitted) of the same fic

BRING LIGHT:
Do something that:

is connected to audio fanworks in some way, and

will make another person's life better

Note: For this challenge, please use a very broad definition of making someone's life better! It can be as small as making them smile for a moment, or laugh, or making them feel cared for, or helping their day go a bit more smoothly. The person whose life you make better does not need to be a Voiceteam player.
Point value: 20 or 35 points, whichever feels right to you. If 20 points, put your name in the base level on Airtable, and if 35 points put it in the bonus level.

Set 3

ACTUAL SCAVENGER HUNT: TEAM EDITION:
For the first 48 hours, any team members who want to contribute can add items to a teamwide scavenger hunt list. The final list should have between 20 and 25 items. Then pairs of teams will swap lists with each other. Once the lists are swapped, players earn points for each audio fanwork they contribute to while in physical contact with an item from their team's assigned list. Bonus if the item from the scavenger hunt list is audibly present in the fanwork (for example, as a prop for foley).
The team pairings will be assigned by the mods, and a shared channel will be created for each pair of teams to communicate with each other. Scavenger hunt items can range from things that are realistic to obtain (like a takeout menu) to things that are impossible to obtain (like pixie dust) but are open to creative interpretation (like pixie stix powder). They can also include categories of objects (like "something that crinkles in a cool way"). If there are any questions about whether an item qualifies, the team who made the scavenger hunt list will make the ruling!
Point value: 10 points to contribute to the list (not ten points per item, but ten points total for each player who contributes one or more items), 35 points per person who contributes to an audio fanwork while in physical contact with an item from their list, +10 if the item is audibly present in the fanwork
Thanks to AirgiodSLV for inspiring this challenge!

SPREAD LOVE:
You can earn points for choosing one of your audio fanworks that you would like more listens and comments on and sharing it in #spread-love or #spread-love-nsfw. Then, all players can earn points for listening and leaving a thoughtful comment on any of the audio fanworks posted in those channels!
Point value: 5 points for submitting an audio fanwork in the channel, 20 points for listening and leaving a thoughtful comment.

Set 4

GUESS THAT VOICE:
For the first 48 hours of this challenge, you can earn points for submitting one clip of your voice, ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, from one of your audio fanworks (posted or unposted). After 48 hours, all submitted clips will be anonymized and shared by mods in #guess-that-voice, and players will be able to use a Google Form to guess them. (We will share more information about guessing once we get to that part of the challenge.) Players will earn points for every correct guess.
Point value: 15 points for submitting a clip, 5 points for each correct guess
Thanks to Annapods for inspiring this challenge!

DO THE WEIRD STUFF:
Create an audio fanwork where you either record the audio or make the cover art in a way that strikes you as especially strange or unusual. This could include recording in an unusual place or context (in an airplane, walking down the street, etc), doing something especially unusual as part of recording (a weird character voice, strange movements or sounds, etc), or doing something especially unusual as part of making cover art (writing the title with noodles, posing in a strange way, etc). This can range from moderately odd to super weird, depending on how chaotic your inner gremlins are feeling this week.
Alternately, you can fill this challenge by making audio fanwork of an especially strange or unusual text!
Point value: 35 points for each player who contributes

Set 5

CRISS CROSS:
Create an audio fanwork where the tone of the music and/or effects is as mismatched as possible to the tone of the story and performance. Extra coolness points if it's a collaboration where the music/effects are added by someone other than the narrator. (Please note: coolness points are not redeemable for actual points.)
Point value: 40 points for each player who contributes
Thanks to SerenaEW for suggesting this challenge!

CLEAN SLATE:
Make progress on backlog of something related to audio fanworks (e.g. comment replies, comments to podfics you've listened to, half-edited files to finish, backups, crossposts, etc). If you don't have a backlog, you can get points for helping another Voiceteam member with theirs. Bonus if the backlog you are working on gets fully cleared!
Point value: 30 points for a work session where you make significant progress on a backlog, +10 for clearing it

Surprise Bonus Challenge

UNO REVERSE
Create an audio fanwork that fills none of the other ten Mystery Box 2024 challenges. This challenge gives negative points.
Point value: -35 points for each player who contributes

klb

BECHDEL TEST [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork that passes the Bechdel test—has at least two female characters in it who talk to each other about something other than a man.

(Challenge suggested by DevilWithABirdDress)

BRAIN ART [N points for each player who contributes, where N is the number of points earned for the challenge used]:
“Misread” a challenge from the previous two rounds by changing a single word or phrase. Fulfill the new challenge you have just created.

ROLE MODEL [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Listen to a teammate's podfic. Then create a podfic with at least one overlapping character, where your interpretation of that character is inspired by their performance.

VOICE BATTLE [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Make something that you can argue to the mods fits the title of this challenge. NO CLARIFYING QUESTIONS ALLOWED.

(Challenge idea thanks to flamingwell and kittona!)

WORD OF GOD [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Pick a random word by choosing a book (or other physical printed material) and pointing to a page without looking. Whatever word your finger lands on, search for that keyword on AO3. Record an audio fanwork of one of the works that turn up in the results.

LEND AN EAR [35 points to each person who contributes]:
One or more players create an audio fanwork, with another player beta listening to a test recording or draft of that audio fanwork and offering at least 5 constructive notes. These could be about pacing, volume, music or sound effects, character voices, foreign language pronunciation, story interpretation, or other artistic choices. (Note: these constructive notes should focus on artistic choices, rather than something out of the podficcer's control, like their natural speaking pitch or accent.) The player(s) who create the fanwork should create it in a way that accomodates this beta process, like creating a test/draft recording first to be listened to and being open to changes including re-records if they choose. Making the suggested changes is not required, but suggestions should be received with an open mind, and the player(s) who created the audio should implement any of them that they think will improve the audio fanwork!

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART [20 points, +5 if it's someone who meets the bonus condition]
Listen to one or more audio fanworks while doing something kind for someone you know who is not a Voiceteam player. It should be something that you don't usually do for that person, so it feels special. Examples: Make a special meal or treat for them, make them a gift or card, send them an especially thoughtful text while listening to filk, take a task unexpectedly off their plate by doing it for them, etc. Bonus points if it's a person you've been wanting to reach out to, spend more time with, or stay in better touch with than you have been lately.

Note: Like CHOOSE WELL, this is on the honor system. You do not need to explain to us what you did or how it was special unless you want to!

PRESENT! [35 points for each player who contributes, +5 if it's a surprise]:
Think of a current Voiceteam player who might like an audio fanwork as a gift, for any reason. Make them one. Bonus points if you use their Dear Podficcer letter, or other information you've learned about their tastes across this month, to make them a *surprise* gift!

3-MINUTE MASTERPIECE [45 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork of 3 minutes or less that showcases at least 3 post-production skills or techniques. These could include soundscaping, underscoring, other use music and/or sound effects, layering voices, voice effects, filters, etc.

THEME SONG [35 points for each team member who contributes]:
Create a theme song for your team.

eafay70

Round 2 Challenges

CROSSOVER [35 points for each player who contributes, +5 for each additional fandom, with a max of 50 points]:
Create an audio fanwork that is a crossover. Bonus points if it crosses over more than 2 fandoms.

CHIP IN [30 points for each player who contributes, +20 if it requires significant time, effort, or energy on your part]:
Create or do something that gives back to the podfic community: compile a resource post, write a walkthrough, add something podfic-related to Fanlore, solicit blanket permission statements, find authors with blanket permission to add to the FPS database, help other podficcers back up their files, create useful scripts/spreadsheets/workskins, or something else!

DAYS OF YORE [20 points for each player who contributes, +20 if it requires significant time, effort, or energy on your part]:
Create a piece of visual art for an audio fanwork posted in Voiceteam 2024 Round 1. You must listen to the podfic at some point before submitting your art for points. The art can take many possible forms (drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, handcraft, digital art, a photograph of a scene you have created, a photograph of yourself in cosplay doing a pose that connects to the audio fanwork, etc etc, etc!) Each audio fanwork you create art for must be from a different Round 1 challenge.

SOPORIFIC [35 points for each player who contributes, +5 if someone confirms that it works]:
Make an audio fanwork that is designed to help people sleep. Bonus points if you can get at least one person to try it and confirm that it worked!

BAND TOGETHER [35 points for each player who contributes, +5 if self-recorded non-vocal sounds are included]:
Create a filk involving audio contributions from at least two players. Bonus for including self-recorded non-vocal sounds (like clapping, tapdancing, banging on things, playing your own instruments, etc).

HELLO STRANGER [10 points for creating or significantly revising your Dear Podficcer letter, 35 points for each player who contributes when you make an audio fanwork that fits your letter]:
Create a Dear Podficcer letter (if you don't know what that is, you can find a definition and examples at these links), or look at your Dear Podficcer letter if you already have one. Then make an audio fanwork that would be a perfect fit for yourself based on the letter.

WE ARE EVERYWHERE [10 points for each player who contributes, +1 per each additional unique location after the first 5, with a max of 50 points]:
Create avant-garde location-based audio art with your team! Each team member should think of one or more unique places they could plausibly record from. Choose a single sentence for team members to record in each place, with the only change being the name of the location. (For example, a team could choose the sentence "I am creating art [describe the location]" and examples could be "I am creating art in the bath," "I am creating art beneath four cats," etc.) Edit all the clips together. The minimum number of clips is 5—bonus for each clip after that.

You have our permission to get weird with this one.

COLD READ [35 points for each player who contributes, +5 if you have submitted one kind and are now submitting the second kind]:
Record a podfic as a "cold read." There are currently two equally valid definitions of this term—feel free to do either!

Definition 1: Record the story as you are reading it for the first time (with editing).
Definition 2: Record a story in an unedited or minimally-edited reading-aloud-to-a-friend style (which can optionally also include your reactions and commentary on the story, pauses to sip tea or comment on things happening in the room around you, etc).

For the sake of listener accessibility, make sure you clarify to listeners which type of "cold read" you're choosing for each recording, perhaps by explaining in the notes, or perhaps by adding a tag such as "unedited" or "first-time read" to each one that differentiates which style you've used.

Bonus if you have already submitted a podfic that fit one definition and then submit a second podfic that fits the other definition!

SEA WITCH [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork that includes no spoken words. It must include some element of character and/or plot.

TRANSLATION [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Translate a story into another language, dialect, or interpretation. The resulting work does not need to be an audio fanwork in the typical sense, but there must be at least some kind of audio element. Cat meows, interpretive dance, etc are ON limits.

eafay70

UNIVERSAL BONUS [10 point bonus]: Bonus for any Voiceteam fanwork that centers one or more characters of color. This includes racebent characters, as long as the fanwork includes a reference to that character’s identity.

LENGTH BONUS for audio: +10 points if over 10 minutes, +15 points if over 30 minutes, +20 points if over an hour.

PROJECT LEAD BONUS [15 point bonus]: A player qualifies for this bonus if they: a) took the leading role in a multivoice project involving three or more Voiceteam players other than themself and b) did significantly more work than the other people involved in the project (e.g. prepared the script, organized roles, set deadlines, followed up with people, answered questions, and edited together the work).

Round 1 Challenges

THINKING OF YOU [10 points for choosing, +10 for using the bonus method, 35 points for each player who contributes to the podfic]:
Choose a written work for a teammate to audio record. Bonus points if you listen to a podfic of theirs first, then recommend them something you think would be well-suited to their strengths as a podficcer.

TWO-TIMER [50 points for each player who contributes]:
Record two distinct versions of the same story. This should involve two separate performances (with the same person/people voicing the same role(s) both times), not just the same performance made different through edits or effects. Examples: one traditional recording, the other whispered ASMR style; one English, one Turkish; one traditional, the other with commentary between paragraphs.

IMMERSION CHAMBER [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Choose a fandom that has an audio or video component. Immerse yourself in watching or listening to that canon for at least 30 minutes, and then start recording an audio fanwork for that fandom within the next 5 minutes, with the canon character voices still ringing in your ears. If possible, don't interact with anyone or speak aloud in between the end of watching/listening to canon and the beginning of recording your audio fanwork.

CHOOSE WELL [20 points, +5 if it's something you don't usually do]:
Listen to podfic while doing things that are good for you, physically or emotionally or otherwise. For example: cuddling a pet, cooking a healthy meal, eating vegetables, drinking water, going on a walk, doing stretches/yoga, or soaking your feet. Choose a length of podfic that feels appropriate for the amount of points you're earning (which will vary from person to person depending on spoons/energy/barriers/choice of activity) and spend the entirety of that podfic doing things that are good for you! If you are comfortable doing so, tell us about it in the #good-things channel so we can cheer you on and be inspired by you! Bonus if this involves something good for you that you don’t usually do.

Please note: We are using the honor system for what you think is good for you. You do not need to explain what you did when submitting for points (or tell anyone at all) unless you want to!

SYNC UP [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Blend your team's voices in magnificent harmony! First have a team discussion where you compare and teach preferred sound editing methods (e.g. noise reduction, volume balance/loudness normalization, limiting, filter curve). Then pick a shared editing process for everyone to try. Finally, create a multivoice audio fanwork where everyone follows that editing process on their individual recordings, and those separate files are combined to make the final work. Marvel at how good everyone sounds together!

MOOOOOD [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Make an audio fanwork (podfic, filk, oral notfic, etc) that incorporates animal sounds in some way. Create the animal sounds with your own voice and/or body, not with props or in post-production. Make them as realistic as possible.

HIGH FIVE [10 points for posting your list, 35 points for each player who contributes to an audio fanwork created from your list]:
Create a list of 5 audio fanworks that you'd like to create. The list could include stories or lyrics you'd like to record and/or ideas for audio fanworks you'd like to create from scratch (such as filk or oral notfic you'd like to create or stories you'd like to write and then record). Each player may only make one list, and the list must be posted in #high-five before you start creating any of the audio fanworks. Each audio fanwork you make off your list earns points.

PILLAR TO POST-PRODUCTION REMIXED [40 points, +5 if you use a writing game, +5 if at least half of a team contributes to a single submission]:
Two or more players collaborate on writing a fic, and two or more players collaborate on recording it. The minimum length of the written/recorded work is 2K. Bonus if you use a writing game such as Frantic Fanfic or The Showrunner Challenge (or a game you make up yourselves) as part of the writing process. Bonus if at least half of any team contributes.

For Frantic Fanfic, or similar games where multiple stories are written at once, all of the works created in a single writing session combine to count as a single submission, but you don't have to record every story written in that session, as long as what you do record reaches the minimum wordcount.

WEIGHTED BLANKET [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Find an author that has a blanket permission statement, but there were no podfics of their works posted on AO3 at the time this challenge began. Podfic one of their works!

FANWORK OF YOUR MASCOT [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Create a fanwork of any medium involving your team’s mascot. (If your team doesn’t have a mascot yet, step 1 for this challenge will be to choose one!) It could be fanart, text or oral not!fic backstory, podficced text, yarncraft, a cake, or something we haven’t thought of yet. Remember, until these challenges are officially revealed by mods in the Discord, please do not mention them anywhere outside the #super-secret-headquarters channel!

eafay70

Day 1: In Which Our Heroes Encounter Two Strangely Glowing But Probably Totally Safe Boxes

TEMPTATION [15 points for making a pitch, 35 points for contributing to an audio fanwork based on someone else's pitch]:
Each player can make up to two pitches for texts or (if you are pitching an audio fanwork not based off a starting text, like a podcast or oral notfic) prompts that you think would make a good audio fanwork. Anyone who is tempted by a pitch and contributes to an audio fanwork based on that pitch gets points, and the tempter gets bonus points for each person one of their temptations works on.
Players may be tempted by as many different pitches as they want, but a player can only get points once for each pitch they are tempted by. Thanks to moon_apple and bluedreaming for inspiring this challenge!

FANDOM RUMMY [35 points for each player who contributes to a set of 3, +5 if it's a set of 4]:
Coordinating with one or more other Voiceteam players, create a set of 3 or 4 audio fanworks in different suits, where the suits are the following: live-action fandoms (clubs), animated fandoms (diamonds), book fandoms (hearts), and podcast fandoms (spades).
Audio fanworks from a fandom with fewer than 100 works on AO3 can be used as wild cards, regardless of suit. A set may include up to one wild card.
Each player can only contribute to one audio fanwork per set.

Day 2: In Which That Seemed To Go Perfectly Fine, So What's The Harm In Opening These Two Additional Mysterious Boxes That Have Arrived On The Doorstep

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY [points vary based on score of the original challenge]:
Complete a challenge from a previous Voiceteam event that, as of the beginning of Mystery Box 2023, you had not completed. You do not need to have participated in the Voiceteam event the challenge was originally from.

PASS IT ON [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Players work together to record an audio fanwork sequentially in parts. Each contributing player adds their part to the work and passes it along to the next. A player should listen through the full work so far immediately before recording their own part to add on to it. The newly recorded part must either come after or be layered on top of (as in added sound effects or vocal harmonies) the parts that were recorded before.

Day 3: In Which Hopefully Recycling Day Is Coming Soon Because This Pile Of Empty Boxes Is Getting A Bit Unwieldy

PRESENT! [30 points for each player who contributes, +10 if the gift is not for a Voiceteam player]:
Think of someone who might like an audio fanwork as a gift, for any reason. Make them one. Bonus if this person is not a current Voiceteam player.

MUSIC FIRST [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork where the song selection comes before any other part of the creation process (including selection and/or creation of the story). The song can be incorporated into the audio fanwork in some way (such as intro, scene breaks, ending, underscoring, soundscaping, etc.) or, if you do not want to include it for copyright reasons, you can just link or mention in the notes what song inspired the fanwork. This challenge can be completed by a single person or by a group—if created by a group, selecting the song and prompting others with it (perhaps with a note about how it could be used such as “dark, spooky, quiet piano, good for horror or ghost fics” or “includes the lyrics ‘part-time soulmate, full-time problem’”) counts as a contribution for points.

Day 4: In Which It Turns Out The Boxes Have Been Sentient Alien Lifeforms All Along And Our Heroes Get A Bit Dramatic About It

GET YOUR FEET WET [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork in a fandom that's new to you (that you haven't posted an audio fanwork in before). If you've only posted an audio fanwork for that fandom in a multivoice capacity before, and you create a solo audio fanwork this time, it counts.

SENSE OF DIRECTION [35 points for each player who contributes, +10 points for taking on the role of director]:
Create an audio fanwork with someone taking on the role of director. It's up to you what the role of director entails—be creative!

Day 5: In Which Everyone Realizes They Have Grown A Bit Too Fond Of Each Other To Keep Fighting And Redirect Their Energies To Throwing A Slapdash But Successful Multispecies Rave

PASSION PROJECT [30 points]:
Think of a fic that is one of your very top favorites but that you have not recorded a podfic of. Perhaps it is intimidatingly good, or already has a podfic version you love, or is too long, or you just haven't gotten around to it. Record a 500-1500 word snippet of that fic. You can record up to 5 snippets of the same fic.

NEW EARS RESOLUTION [10 points for making a resolution, 35 points for each audio fanwork made in keeping with your resolution]:
Make a new year's resolution related to the audio fanworks you want to create next year, and then points for each audio fanwork you create that is in keeping with your new year's resolution.

klb

SUPERLATIVES [35 points]:
Podfic a work that is, in your opinion, the Most Something. Could be serious (most effective in converting me to a new ship, best use of canon element X in an AU) or silly (most different droid noises, best ice cream flavor puns) - whatever you would put in the Voiceteam yearbook.

SEA WITCH [35 points]:
Create an audio fanwork that includes no spoken words. It must include some element of character and/or plot. No follow-up questions allowed.

GIFT BOX [30 points]:
Curate a rec list of at least 5 existing audio fanworks for someone else based on their favorite fandoms/interests.

IN THE MOOD [20 points]:
Listen to someone else's audio fanwork and create a moodboard for it.

PRIDE OF PLACE [35 points, +10 if the setting of the story matches the setting it is recorded in]:
Record outdoors or next to an open window. Bonus points if the setting of the story matches the setting you are in.

TALK BACK [40 points]:
Record or listen to an audio fanwork at the same time as at least one other Voiceteam player, and then co-record some kind of live audio response to the audio fanwork you just listened to. The audio response must be at least 5 minutes long and could be a discussion of the story, a notfic prequel/sequel/story that happens between scenes, a reaction to the podfic itself, or something else.

FRESH COAT OF PAINT [35 points]:
Redo an old audio fanwork of yours and put a new spin on it. This could be a new technique you have learned for performance or editing, a new interpretation, new knowledge you have gained, or new emotional resonance the story has for you. Or record your own version of an audio fanwork in another Voiceteam player’s back catalogue and put your spin on that! (For this challenge, anything posted before May 1, 2023 qualifies as back catalogue.)

CAST ON [35 points]:
Create a podcast episode with at least one other Voiceteam player about whatever you want. If you make multiple episodes in a podcast series, each one counts for points!

PILLAR TO POST-PRODUCTION [45 points]:
Individually or as a group, write a fic and then record it. Minimum length 1K.

FINISH LINE [40 points]:
Finish an old or aspirational project that is in some way connected to audio fanworks. This could be a WIP you’ve been working on, something you’ve been stuck on, or an idea you’ve had but haven’t acted on yet. Finishing a chapter of a multichapter work counts!

klb

BLORBO-IN-LAW [35 points]:
Record a work that features a fandom that you are not in and have not seen the full source material for, but that you see a lot on your dash/timeline/etc.

ANOTHER!!! [35 points per work, +5 if you have already submitted 3 works by the same author for this challenge]:
Podfic multiple works by the same author.

TECH SUPPORT [35 points]:
Create an audio fanwork where you alter the voice of at least one character during the editing stage. This may include altering pitch, speed, reverb, or any other vocal effect.

TEAM SPIRIT [35 points]:
Create an audio fanwork related to your team color, directly or thematically (example: a red team might record something with scarlet in the title, or that's very bloody, or is all about love). Multiple teams with the same color can collaborate.

GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY [15 points]:
Create something non-digital, like a drawing, collage, sculpture, or craft, and take a photo as cover art for an audio fanwork. This could be an existing audio fanwork that doesn't yet have a cover, a future audio fanwork you plan to create, or an audio fanwork you helped create (in some way other than contributing cover art) for a different challenge.

KINK MEME [10 points to prompt, 35 points to fill]:
We have created a Voiceteam kink meme! (For those unfamiliar with kink memes, this is a place for people to make and fill prompts. Prompts and fills do not need to actually be kinky or NSFW!) You can prompt as many times as you want but only get the points for prompting once. You can also fill any prompt, either with a text fanwork or with an audio fanwork, and you get points for each fill. Any fic fills on the kink meme will have automatic blanket permission—keep that in mind when writing!—and podfic of a fic fill also counts for points.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED [35 points]:
Use AO3’s filter view to look at most popular characters or relationships for a fandom. To do this, go to the AO3 works tag for that fandom (example: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Star%20Wars%20Sequel%20Trilogy/works) and select Characters or Relationships in the dropdown menu on the right side of the screen. Then create an audio fanwork in that fandom with a main character or relationship that is not on that list.

I SEE YOU [10 points per comment]:
Find an audio fanwork that was posted at least seven days ago and has zero comments. Listen and leave a comment! (If someone else comments while you are still in the middle of listening and commenting, you’re still within the spirit of the challenge and you still get the points!) Remember to check #opt-out before leaving feedback for a challenge!

CLOSET COSPLAY [35 points]:
Create an audio fanwork in costume as the POV character! The costume can be as minimal or as involved as you want, depending on your cosplay skills and what you have available! Share a picture of the outfit with the Discord, along with the completed podfic. The picture does not need to show your face!

DO IT [35 points for each player who contributes, +10 to anyone doing something they have been nervous about or avoiding]:
Think of something you've been interested in trying re: audio fanwork, but have been nervous about or avoiding. (This might be tackling a specific fandom/character/fic but could also be something else related to the process of creating audio fanworks.) Do it.

klb

UNIVERSAL BONUS [10 point bonus]: Bonus for any Voiceteam fanwork that centers one or more characters of color. This includes racebent characters, as long as the fic includes a reference to that character’s identity.

LENGTH BONUS for audio: +10 points if over 10 minutes, +15 points if over 30 minutes, +20 points if over an hour

PROJECT LEAD BONUS [15 point bonus]: A player qualifies for this bonus if they: a) took the leading role in a multivoice project involving three or more people other than themself and b) did significantly more work than the other people involved in the project (e.g. prepared the script, organized roles, set deadlines, followed up with people, answered questions, and edited together the work).

Round 1 Challenges

COMMON GROUND [30 points for each qualifying player who contributes]:
Create a list of 10 things that at least 10 of your team members have in common. These could relate to personal or fannish identity. They must be true of at least ten people on your team, but NOT true of at least one other player in the other team that shares your team color (example: "I have a Discord account" wouldn't count).

MIC CHECK [25 points for each player who records an audio intro] Record a brief audio intro to share with your teammates. Tell them a little bit about yourself as a podficcer, including what fandoms/ratings/genres of fics you most like recording. Read aloud one or more brief snippets of text that you think will showcase your strengths. If you have certain skills you bring to podficcing (accents, speaking multiple languages, singing, ASMR, foley, etc.), you might want to demonstrate them, so your teammates can suggest roles that are a good fit for you in future group projects!

ACTUAL SCAVENGER HUNT [35 points, +10 if it could be reasonably considered to be an unusual item]: Create an audio fanwork that includes an item in your home or current living space. You can start with the item and then find/create a story that fits it, or start with the story and then find an object from it somewhere in your house. You cannot create or acquire an item for this challenge that didn't exist in your home before this round began. Post the audio fanwork along with a photo of the item. Bonus points if the item could reasonably be considered to be an unusual item.

DABBLE IN DRABBLES [10 points]: Record a 100-word drabble, drabble series/sequence/collection, double drabble (200 words) or triple drabble (300 words)! Celebrate short pods/works!

HAND OF FATE [35 points]: As a team, add works you'd like to hear podficced into https://pickerwheel.com. Anyone on your team who wants to record a wheel of fortune podfic spins and records the fic they land on! Alternately, you can create a dice-based or card-based system for choosing if you prefer!

GROUP HANG [35 points]: Record a multivoice audio fanwork live with a group of other Voiceteam players. Being virtually live over audio or video chat counts!

NO MAKE-UP CHALLENGE [35 points]: Create an audio fanwork that is not edited—leave in your mistakes! Share it with at *least* your team.

SIMULPOD A FIC [35 points]: Simultaneously release multiple podfics of the same story with one or more other Voiceteam players. Can you beat the Voiceteam-wide record for most simulpods of one fic?

MAKE A FILK [35 points]: Record a filk!

PHONE A FRIEND [35 points, +5 if recorded into your physical mic] Get someone who isn’t playing this round of Voiceteam to contribute voice to an audio fanwork you create. Even minor roles count! Bonus points if it is a local (or visiting) person who can record their part into your physical mic.

eafay70

Day 1: The Seal is Broken

HIGH FIVE [10 points for posting your list, 35 points for each audio fanwork created from your list]:
Create a list of 5 audio fanworks that you'd like to create. The list could include stories or lyrics you'd like to record and/or ideas for audio fanworks you'd like to create from scratch (such as filk or oral notfic you'd like to create or stories you'd like to write and then record). The list must be posted in #high-five before you start creating any of the audio fanworks. Each audio fanwork you make off your list gives you points.

Notes:
-Only one player gets points for each audio fanwork created in this challenge.
-You may submit a work from your High Five list for another challenge, but if you do so you can no longer use it for High Five and you may not add a replacement item to your High Five list. So choose carefully!

SECRET MESSAGE [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create sets of audio fanworks whose titles go together to form a secret message of your choice. Each secret message should be made of at least 3 different titles, and each audio fanwork must be based on a text work that already has a title—titles can't be created specifically for this challenge. Players get points for each fanwork they contribute to that ends up as part of a complete message. Thanks to Jocunda Sykes for suggesting this challenge!

Day 2: Double-Edged Sword

DIY CHALLENGE [10 points per team member when the team chooses their challenge, ? points for fulfilling the challenge]:
Each team works together to come up with an audio fanworks challenge that hasn't been used as a Voiceteam or Mystery Box challenge before. It's okay to overlap with another team by accident, but you cannot purposely choose the same DIY Challenge idea as another team. The team must get the scoring system for their challenge approved by the mods (including the coding mods who will need to make it work in Airtable!). Once the challenge is approved, team members get points for fulfilling their challenge.

Notes:
-Each team only gets to create one DIY challenge this round of Mystery Box.
-Team members can only get points for fulfilling their own team’s challenge, not another team’s challenge.

BACK UP YOUR JUNK [40 points for the first set of audio fanworks backed up, 5 points for each additional audio fanwork backed up]:
Choose 10 of your already-posted audio fanworks and add links to one other hosting website to extend longevity of the fanwork. (If you haven't posted 10 podfics, you get the points for adding additional links to all the ones you have posted.) Bonus points for each podfic you back up beyond the original 10. Thanks to Jocunda Sykes for suggesting this challenge!

Day 3: Stirring in the Dark

COLD READ [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Record a podfic as you read the story for the first time. The maximum amount you may read in advance is the title, tags, summary, and first few paragraphs. Or if you want, you can have someone else find the story for you and go in completely cold!

PODFIC ~~WELCOME~~ AVAILABLE [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Fulfill a podfic request from fandomtrees, holiday_wishes, or any similar wishmaking fandom event
https://fandomtrees.dreamwidth.org/tag/m:podfic
https://holiday-wishes.dreamwidth.org/tag/podcasts+and+podfic
OR
record a work on AO3 tagged with "podfic welcome" or anything similar!
https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Podfic%20Welcome/works

Day 4: They Keep Coming

ORAL NOTFIC DUEL [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Two players or groups create oral notfics that take opposing positions on an element of their choice (such as genres, tropes, fandoms, characters, etc.) Example opposing positions include AU vs canon-compliant, Star Trek vs. Star Wars, Bert vs. Ernie, fluff vs angst, ship vs gen, or anything else you think would be fun! Players involved in the duel should set terms—what will be the shared starting point of the two notfics? They might start with the same fandom, characters, trope, and/or premise. They might even have the same first sentence! Then each side will go off and record their separate oral notfics, making sure to incorporate their side of the element they are dueling over. THE WINNER IS EVERYONE (and everyone gets points for contributing)!

Go to #oral-notfic-duel to brainstorm ideas for this challenge and find dueling partners!

PASS THE BATON [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork where each step of the process is done by a different Voiceteam player: 1) selecting the text OR writing the text OR giving the starting prompt; 2) recording; 3) editing; 4) sound effects/soundscaping (optional); 5) cover art (optional); 6) creating related fanworks such as playlist/fanart/crafts inspired by the podfic (optional). Participants complete their part of the project and send it on to the next person in the chain. It is okay for more than one person to collaborate on a single step, but no player can contribute to more than one step of the same audio fanwork.

(If you are familiar with the Podfic Polygons event, this is similar to that, but with only one audio fanwork being passed from person to person instead of multiple audio fanworks being passed simultaneously.)

Day 5: Out of the Abyss

2022 RETROSPECTIVE [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork for a canon that didn't exist before 2022. For an RPF fandom, this challenge defines the start of canon as when the person/people first became famous, or when they became publicly linked (e.g. when they first released a work together or joined a team together). For a new part of a larger fandom, it counts for this challenge if it's a discrete storyline (e.g. new storyline in an actual play podcast) but not if it's a direct continuation of an already ongoing storyline (e.g. a new season of a TV show that picks up pretty much where the previous season left off).

3-MINUTE MASTERPIECE [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork of 3 minutes or less that showcases at least 3 post-production skills or techniques. These could include soundscaping, underscoring, other use music and/or sound effects, layering voices, voice effects, filters, etc.

Bonus Challenge

IT'S A TRAP
Create an audio fanwork with contributions from at least 90% of this round's Voiceteam Mystery Box players. If at least 90% of players contribute, every Voiceteam player gets 90 points outside of their point cap. If less than 90% of players contribute, nobody gets any points. Either way, this challenge is completely meaningless pointswise.

If you complete this challenge, well done! If you resist the urge to engage in this complete waste of time, also well done! No matter what the outcome, we will consider it a success!

klb

Day 1: The First Unboxing

TRANSFORM, TRANSFORM, TRANSFORM! [35 points for each link on the chain]
Players make a transformative chain with at least three links. At least one of the links must be an audio fanwork. For example, one player writes a fic, other players make a podfic and fanmix based on the fic, some players makes a filk based on one of the songs from the fanmix, other players make art and an oral not!fic based on the filk, and so on! A chain does not have to be linear—what’s important is that all transformative works (except the first one) are based on at least one earlier work in the chain. Players can contribute to more than one link in a chain and get points for each link they contribute to. Players can contribute to as many different chains as they want.

WISH UPON A PODFIC STAR [35 points for making a wishlist, 35 points for each wish granted]
Any player can share a wish list of 3-10 fics (up to 3K each in length) that they would like to hear podded. At least one fic on the wishlist should already have podfic permission—either blanket permission or the author has already given the wishmaker permission. Any player can grant wishes by making podfics of one or more fics on someone else’s list. Repods are welcome!
If everyone who makes a wish list gets a wish granted, +5 bonus for this whole challenge—meaning anything submission for this challenge that was worth 35 points will now be worth 40 points!

Day Two: 2 Awesome 2 Unboxing

INTO THE UNKNOWN [35 points for making the podfic, 15 points for finding the fic]
A player sets some parameters (e.g. max length, rating, trope preferences, vetoed fandoms) and teammates can suggest works to record in fandoms they’re not in. The person who found the fic should be prepared to assist with pronunciation or context, but this person is acting in the role of guide (into the unknown!) rather than co-creator and cannot contribute to the podfic for points.

BIRD BY BIRD [35 points]
Start, advance significantly on, or finish a WIP. (This challenge defines WIP as anything you can’t finish in one session, with the understanding that what a session looks like is different for everyone!)

Day 3: The Unbox3ning

PHONE A FRIEND [40 points per audio fanwork, +5 if it includes a former Voiceteam player]
Get someone who isn’t playing this round of Voiceteam to collaborate on an audio fanwork with you. Bonus points if it’s a former player who isn’t playing this round. (Suggested by Lofi)

CROSSOVER [35 points, +5 for each additional fandom]
Create an audio fanwork that is a crossover. Bonus points if it crosses over more than 2 fandoms.

Day 4: The Fourth Box Awakens

FREAKY FRIDAY [40 points, +5 for more than two versions]
Create a multivoice recording. Then create a second version with the roles switched around. Bonus for making more than 2 versions, with different roles in each version.

SPEED RUN [35 points, +5 if you post within the hour]
Create a podfic in less than an hour. You can choose it beforehand—the hour starts when you turn on your mic to record. Feel free to give each other tips for how to streamline the process! Bonus points if you post within the hour as well.

Day 5: The Final Boxdown

LIVE IN THE MOMENT [35 points]
Podfic any story that has been posted to AO3 on or after December 25th, 2021. This includes all Yuletide 2021 stories.

CHAR-REACT [25 points]
Create an audio comment for another participant’s audio fanwork, in character as someone from that audio fanwork. (suggested by

eafay70)

klb

Round 3 Challenges

TONGUE TWISTER [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork that includes a language you don't speak fluently.

RUNNING COMMENTARY [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Go to a podfic you've already finished, and add in a running audio commentary. The commentary should be spread throughout the podfic, not just at the end. To do this, listen back to your podfic, pause when you have something to say, and record it. Edit the bits of recorded commentary directly into the original audio file to create a running-commentary version!

STORY AND SONG [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Write and/or record a filk about any audio fanwork you or another Voiceteam player has created.

REC-A-THON [25 points]:
In the #rec-a-thon channel, rec an audio fanwork you love and explain why you're reccing it with 100+ words.

RAINBOW [30 points for each team member who contributes, +10 for project lead]:
Create an audio fanwork with contributions from at least one red team member, one orange team member, one yellow team member, one green team member, and one blue team member. If the project is a multivoice with at least four voices, and a single person coordinates and edits the project, that person receives bonus-level points for this challenge. (Thank you to

gwogobo#6048 for coming up with this challenge idea in #cross-team-collab!)

SPEED RUN [30 points, +5 if you post within the hour]:
Create a podfic in less than an hour. You can choose it beforehand—the hour starts when you turn on your mic to record. Feel free to give each other tips for how to streamline the process! Bonus points if you post within the hour as well. Feel free to share tips for fast podfic creation in #speed-run-tips

AUDIO GARDEN [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork using any of these fill-in-the-blank stories as your starting place. You may make whatever changes you want to these starting stories, including adding more words, changing words, and removing words. If you would like to see different ways adapting a fill-in-the-blank story like this might go, you can check out klb’s examples here

LIFE OF THE PARTY [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Record an audio fanwork for a live audience (virtually or in person). Feel free to encourage them to react verbally, and to include their reactions in the finished/posted audio! Please note that audiencing only counts as a contribution for points if it is audible in the finished product.

JINX! [30 points for each player who contributes]
Two or more Voiceteam players choose a sound effect (a pre-recorded sound file) and each create audio fanworks that include that sound file somewhere within the work. Players can do this as many times as they want, with as many sound files as they want, as long as each sound file is used in at least two audio fanworks created for this challenge. Thank you to bluedreaming for this challenge idea!

FLANFICTION [35 points for each player who contributes] - Create something—anything—that in some way is connected to audio fanworks and in some way is connected to flan. NO CLARIFYING QUESTIONS PERMITTED ON THIS CHALLENGE.

klb

Round 2 Challenges

STORYTIME [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an illustrated children's book connected to podficcing. It can be connected in whatever way you want and does not have to be especially long or especially serious!

STAGE A SCENE [40 points for each player who contributes]:
Create a podfic with someone taking on the role of director! Example process: One or more performers start with a first readthrough of a fic. The director listens and gives them direction. Then the performer(s) perform the story again, making adjustments to their performance based on the direction! This could happen live in a voice chat or could happen by recording the first readthrough, getting written or oral recorded feedback from the director, and then recording the final performance. If a group has another idea for how to create a podfic with a director role, those are welcome too.

SONG LYRICS CONNECT [30 points for each team member who contributes, +10 for any podfic that's part of a whole verse or chorus]:
Each team may choose one song. For this challenge, record podfics of stories whose titles are lyrics from that song. (See this video for examples of fics whose titles are all lyrics from a single song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4k-ZMtMsyc) Bonus if you can string together a whole verse or whole chorus of the song with the titles of your podfics!

WEIGHTED BLANKET [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Find an author that has a blanket permission statement, but there were no podfics of their works posted on AO3 at the time this challenge began. Podfic one of their works!

WALKTHROUGH [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Create some kind of documentation of your podfic process. This might include photos, screenshots, text, video, a podcast interview, etc. You might include your recording setup and equipment, what steps you go through and why, and any tips or advice you have learned. You might also talk about how your process has changed over time and why!

ENEMIES TO ??? [30 points for each qualifying player who contributes]:
Collaborate on an enemies-to-friends or enemies-to-lovers audio fanwork with one or more players on your rival team.

BIRD BY BIRD [25 points for each qualifying player who contributes]:
Start, advance significantly on, or finish a WIP. (This challenge defines WIP as anything you can’t finish in one session, with the understanding that what a session looks like is different for everyone!) Since this challenge is about making progress on a WIP, the length bonus will only apply to progress made during this round and should not include anything that had been completed before the round began. Players only qualify for points for this challenge if their contribution to the project is a WIP for them.

PODFIC BROKEN TELEPHONE [30 points for each team member who contributes]:
Play a game of Podfic Broken Telephone with at least 3 team members. Here is how to play: everyone on the team who wants to play should choose an order for the telephone chain. The first person in the chain can choose any fic to podfic. They will send a link to the text of the fic privately to the next person in the chain. The next person will choose a fic that connects in some way to the one they were sent, and send their choice along to the next person in the chain. All fics in the chain should be chosen within the first 48 hours of the round, and then players will have the rest of the round to record the story they have chosen. The whole chain should be revealed together, once all of the links have been completed!

FRIEND! [10 points]:
Listen to and leave a comment on an audio fanwork you haven’t listened to before that was made by one of your team members. (Check first if someone on your team has put their name in #optout-comment-for-points and if so make sure to not submit for points any comments you make to them!)

WAVELENGTH [45 points for each player who contributes]:
Create an audio fanwork that feels very *you*: maybe it centers on a favorite trope, character, fandom, performance style, etc. Share it with your team and explain why you chose it.

klb

UNIVERSAL BONUS [10 point bonus] Bonus for any Voiceteam fanwork that centers one or more characters of color. This includes racebent characters, as long as the fic includes a reference to that character’s identity.

LENGTH BONUS for audio: +10 points if over 10 minutes, +15 points if over 30 minutes, +20 points if over an hour

Round 1 Challenges

DO IT [30 points for each player who contributes, +10 if you are doing something you have been nervous about or avoiding]:
Think of something you've been interested in trying re: audio fanwork, but have been nervous about or avoiding. (This might be tackling a specific fandom/character/fic but could also be something else related to the process of creating audio fanworks.) Do it.

THEME SONG [45 points for each team member who contributes, +5 per team member]:
Create a theme song for your team. The more team members who contribute, the more points the song is worth! Each team may only complete this challenge once.

SPREAD THE WORD [20 points for each promo, +5 bonus points for each new blanket statement posted]:
Promote the concept of permission statements (optionally including the Fandom Permission Statements website) on journals/social media sites/etc. to encourage more authors to post blanket permission statements. The post should be a significant promo and not just a retweet/reblog. Bonus points for each blanket statement posted in direct response to your promo. The bonus applies for ANY blanket statement posted, not just blanket yes!

EAR CANDY [25 points for each audio comment]:
Leave audio feedback for a podfic. If you submit multiple comments for this challenge, they should all be different from each other and should each be specific to the podfic being commented on.

NOT IT [35 points for each player who contributes]:
Record a notfic! This could be oral notfic (in other words, storytelling out loud, either solo or collaborative) or it could be a recording of written notfic/chatfic/tweetfic/etc.

FANWORK OF YOUR MASCOT [30 points for each player who contributes]:
Create a fanwork of any medium involving your team’s mascot. (If your team doesn’t have a mascot yet, step 1 for this challenge will be to choose one!) It could be fanart, text or oral not!fic backstory, podficced text, yarncraft, a cake, or something we haven’t thought of yet!

TIME WARP [30 points for each qualifying player who contributes]: Record an audio fanwork in a fandom you used to be in but hadn't created fanworks in for at least one year before this round started. Multiple people may get points for contributions to this, but only if each one hadn't created fanworks in that fandom for at least one year before this round started.

WISHING WELL [10 points for making a wish, 30 points for each player who contributes to granting a wish]:
Each Voiceteam player can name ONE way they wish fandom (either fandom as a whole or a specific fandom) were different. Then any Voiceteam player can get points for creating an audio fanwork that moves fandom in the direction of any of those wishes. If every wish is granted by the end of the round, everyone who helped grant wishes gets a bonus! In that case, the baseline point value for granting a wish will change from 30 to 35 points.

PLAYTIME! [35 points for each player who helps create the game OR playtests the game, +15 for those who do both]:
Create and playtest a podfic-related game.

ANTHOLOGY [30 points for each team member who contributes]:
Pick a theme - it can be as abstract or as concrete as you want - and have at least 3 team members create an audio fanwork that connects to the theme.

klb

Round 4: Chaos Week

WEIRD SCIENCE [40 points, +10 for each player’s voice incorporated after the first 4. Max of 100 points]: Incorporate one or more clips from another Voiceteam player’s audio fanwork, with their permission, into a fanwork of your own.

COVER ART FIRST [55 points for each player who contributes]: A player creates cover art, and then one or more other players creates an audio fanwork inspired by the cover. One possibility would be going to find a fic that matches the cover image and then recording podfic of it. Or one or more players could write a fic based on the cover and one or more players record it. Or players could create an oral not!fic or filk or audio meta to match the cover. For any of these latter options, the cover art could include a title and the other players make the story match that title, or the cover could start with just art and the title could be added later.

IS THIS A MEME? [10 points for each player who contributes]: Create a meme! Use any existing meme template to make a meme about podfic/filk/oral not!fic, etc, or creating a new meme template that is audio-fanwork-based (like podfic platypus).

CAST ON [40 points for each player who contributes]: Create a podcast episode with at least one other Voiceteam player on whatever you want. Meta? Read favourite bits of your own works or works you’ve podficced? Interview a team member about something they have created? Discuss creative processes? If you make multiple episodes in a podcast series, each one counts for points!

WHAT COMES NEXT [40 points for each player who contributes, +10 if a Voiceteam work]
Create or record a sequel to any audio fanwork you have created or loved in the past. Bonus if the work you create a sequel to is a Voiceteam work.

CHAOS MISSION [40 points for each team member who contributes]: Go to a random word generator, such as https://randomwordgenerator.com/ or https://randomwordgenerator.com/noun.php . As a team, you may generate up to 5 words. The whole team must agree on ONE of those words to use for this challenge—one for the whole team for this whole round, not one per player. This word becomes your team’s chaos mission, and you receive points for any fanwork made by one or more team members that connects to this word.

CLOSET COSPLAY [25 points]: Coordinate your outfit to a podfic you are creating or listening to. Post a picture of the outfit with a link to the podfic (or to the text you were podficcing). The picture does not need to show your face!

SOUND EFFECT FIRST [50 points for each player who contributes]: Prompt another player with a sound effect, and they create an audio fanwork that uses that sound effect. The player who is prompted doesn’t get to help choose the sound effect, but they can decline the prompt and ask for a new one up to 3 times if needed. You’re allowed to use a song or a voice clip (from another audio fanwork, a commercial, etc) as your sound effect.

FATE [15 points per comment]: Using a random number generator, choose a random page from AO3’s podfic tag and then pick a podfic from it at random. Listen (unless the tags or summary are DNW for you) and leave feedback on what you liked about it!

SARDINES [N points, where N is the number of Voiceteam players who contribute to the work, +30 for significant editing]: Create an audio fanwork with contributions from as many Voiceteam players as possible. Bonus for players who do significant editing work putting all the contributions together!

Please note that for this week's challenges, every Voiceteam player who contributes gets points for all challenges except the following:
WEIRD SCIENCE gets points only for those who help edit the file

CHAOS MISSION only gets contribution points for members of the team that is assigned that particular mission

CLOSET COSPLAY only gets points for the person wearing the outfit

FATE only gets points for the person leaving the comment

klb

This is the first week where we explicitly list beta as a contribution that counts for points. This is just because we forgot to include it in the original list, and a team last week asked about it, which reminded us! If you are contributing beta for points, we’d prefer you give significant feedback in some way (by which we basically mean more than a “Yep, all good!”), but ultimately it’s up to you—we’re not going to ask for proof.

Round 3: Multiformat Week

FILK [40 points for each player who contributes]: Record a filk (points for each team member who contributes, including writing, voice, instrumentation, editing, cover art, beta, etc)

PODVID [40 points for each player who contributes, +35 points for significant editing]: Create podfic with a video component. For example, you might film yourself reading aloud, you might choose (or draw, or animate!) some images to put on the screen that fit with the story, you might include video clips (either found or made) under your voice, or anything else your creative brains dream up! Bonus for projects with significant editing (more than setting audio to a static image or a raw recording of yourself reading aloud)—honor system as to whether the editing required for your project counts as significant for you, but we encourage you to be generous with yourself on this!

SNAPSHOT [15 points for each player who contributes, +10 if connected to a podfic made for Voiceteam]: Take a photo of yourself, with others as needed, recreating a moment from a podfic. Costume and/or masks are fine (but not required). Digitally altering the photo after you take it is also fine (but also not required)! You can disguise, crop, or blur out faces as needed, and you are *not* expected to post this outside the Voiceteam Discord (unless you want to!). Bonus points if it’s from a podfic created for either the current Voiceteam or any past Voiceteam event. (Note: We’re not totally sure what multiple players contributing to a single Snapshot would look like, but if you can figure it out, we will give you points for it!)

AUDIO MUSE [30 points, +10 if you turn it into a podfic cover]: Create something while listening to a podfic (painting, sculpture, a dance routine, a meal, etc.) Let the podfic impact what you create. If you're comfortable doing so, share your creation (or a photo of your creation) with the podfic’s creator. Bonus points if you turn that photo into a cover that you offer to the podfic’s creator. (You may choose digital art as your creation, but it should stand alone as a piece of artwork without being a podfic cover, and if you make it into a podfic cover that should happen as a later step after you’ve finished listening—otherwise the bonus would get confusing!)

BRING YOUR WORK TO FANDOM DAY [45 points for each player who contributes]: Use a skill from your job, your school, or a non-podfic-related hobby to create something connected to any audio fanwork you have made or listened to. This can take any form! It could be making a physical object, composing a song, drafting a lesson plan, writing a five-paragraph essay, coding a program etc. Whatever you can think of that connects to the audio fanwork.

TRANSLATION [50 points per player who contributes]: Translate a story into another language, dialect, or interpretation. Cat meows, interpretive dance, etc are ON limits.

SHOOT WITHOUT A SCRIPT [45 points for each player who contributes]: Make an audio fanwork that isn’t scripted. Oral not!fic, RPG, in-character improv, etc.

PILLAR TO POST-PRODUCTION [45 points for each player who contributes]: Individually or as a team, write a fic and then record it. No minimum length.

SOUNDS LIKE [40 points for each player who contributes]: Create an audio fanwork where a Voiceteam member creates sound effects live rather than finding them online or creating them with filters. This could be made with props or movements during the recording, could be altering the sound of your voice with props, could be separately recording your own sound effects/soundscapes and then editing them into your podfic, could be having a teammate record themselves doing something the character in podfic is doing and then editing that into the podfic, or something else!

PLAYTIME! [35 points for each player who helps create the game OR playtests the game, +15 for those who do both]: Create and playtest a podfic game. Feel free to use this as a starting place: https://podfication.dreamwidth.org/15366.html

klb

Round 2: Growth and Change

THIS IS HOW [40 points for each player who contributes]: Create a tutorial/instructions/advice post on how to do something that’s audio-fanwork-related. This could be in audio, video, text, or visual form (or a mix of these, or something else we haven’t thought of)! Or add at least one paragraph to an audio-fanwork-related page on Fanlore.

I SEE YOU [10 points per comment, +5 if it’s to a Voiceteam player]: Find an audio fanwork that was posted at least seven days ago and has zero comments. Listen and leave a comment! (If someone else comments while you are still in the middle of listening and commenting, you’re still within the spirit of the challenge and you still get the points!) Remember to check #opt-out before leaving feedback for a challenge!

COMMENTARY [50 points for each player who contributes, +5 if commentary is posted]: Write or record new commentary on a fanwork of yours created before this week. This should be at minimum 7 min or 1K written words. You might talk about why the project is meaningful to you, what your thought process was in making it, what it taught you, reflections on what you might do differently now, etc. This may be solo or take the form of an interview with one or more other Voiceteam players. Bonus points for adding the commentary to the post of the original work.

NEVER HAVE I EVER… UNTIL NOW [40 points per person doing a new thing]:
Create a fanwork that does something you have never done before. (This does not have to be an audio fanwork!) Multiple people can contribute to the same fanwork if they are all doing something they have never done before.

PITCH N’ POD [35 points for each player who contributes, +10 for each fandom newbie who lends their voice]: Introduce one or more other Voiceteam players to a fandom they didn't know before and have them create a multivoice audio fanwork in the new fandom. Everybody can participate, even if they knew the fandom before, but bonus points for each person who is lending their voice to the audio fanwork without having consumed any canon or fic for this fandom prior to the pitch.

CHANGE YOUR MIND [40 points for each player who contributes]: Create an audio version of a piece of meta that you have engaged with, that taught you something or made you rethink something. Meta is defined on fanlore as “a fan-authored piece of non-fiction writing discussing any aspect of fandom, fanworks, or the source [canon].” Share your audio version with at least the Voiceteam Discord.

WISHING WELL [45 points for each player who contributes]: Each Voiceteam player can name one way they wish fandom (either fandom as a whole or a specific fandom) were different. Then any Voiceteam player can get points for creating an audio fanwork that moves in the direction of any of those wishes.

ACCEPT CRITICISM [60 points for each player receiving critique, 20 points for each player giving critique]: Create an audio fanwork that feels risky for you in some way, then get feedback from another Voiceteam player that includes at least one area for growth. You can choose to revise or not, and choose to post or not—the challenge is receiving the critique.

FRESH COAT OF PAINT [45 points for each player who contributes]: Redo an old podfic of yours and put a new spin on it. This could be a new technique you have learned for performance or editing, a new interpretation, new knowledge you have gained, or new emotional resonance the story has for you. Or record your own version of a podfic in another Voiceteam player’s back catalogue and put your spin on that! (For this challenge, anything posted before May 1, 2021 qualifies as back catalogue.)

ROAD LESS TRAVELED [40 points for each player who contributes]: Use AO3’s filter view to look at most popular characters or relationships for a fandom. To do this, go to the AO3 works tag for that fandom (example: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Star%20Wars%20Sequel%20Trilogy/works) and select Characters or Relationships in the dropdown menu on the right side of the screen. Then create an audio fanwork in that fandom with a main character or relationship that is not on that list.

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Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

Set 5

Set 1

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Set 3

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Set 5

Surprise Bonus Challenge

Round 2 Challenges

Round 1 Challenges

Day 1: In Which Our Heroes Encounter Two Strangely Glowing But Probably Totally Safe Boxes

Day 2: In Which That Seemed To Go Perfectly Fine, So What's The Harm In Opening These Two Additional Mysterious Boxes That Have Arrived On The Doorstep

Day 3: In Which Hopefully Recycling Day Is Coming Soon Because This Pile Of Empty Boxes Is Getting A Bit Unwieldy

Day 4: In Which It Turns Out The Boxes Have Been Sentient Alien Lifeforms All Along And Our Heroes Get A Bit Dramatic About It

Day 5: In Which Everyone Realizes They Have Grown A Bit Too Fond Of Each Other To Keep Fighting And Redirect Their Energies To Throwing A Slapdash But Successful Multispecies Rave

Round 1 Challenges

Day 1: The Seal is Broken

Day 2: Double-Edged Sword

Day 3: Stirring in the Dark

Day 4: They Keep Coming

Day 5: Out of the Abyss

Bonus Challenge

Day 1: The First Unboxing

Day Two: 2 Awesome 2 Unboxing

Day 3: The Unbox3ning

Day 4: The Fourth Box Awakens

Day 5: The Final Boxdown

Round 3 Challenges

Round 2 Challenges

Round 1 Challenges

Round 4: Chaos Week

Round 3: Multiformat Week

Round 2: Growth and Change

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