I've been writing on Vocal for 14 months and have won 3 chanllenge, placed in the Fiction Awards and was one of the winners in the Ukraine challenge and I'm nobody special. You gotta be in it to win it.
I'm no fiction writer, but I entered the dragon challenge and I'm working on a second entry. I love your comment about the rules. I've read so many entries that either don't start with the provded sentence or a clearly not a first chaper. And yeah, orginality.
My chances at winning a fiction challenge are slim to none, but hey, even if I don't win, it's a great way to keep honing my talent, and that's a win of sorts. :)