Winners

SoWrite’s most successful writing contest to date has reached the finish line. It’s time to announce our judges’ prize-level choices for our “Best Excerpt, All Genres” finalists. Let me say right up front that this last judging round did not end up the way I had imagined it would.

For instance, contestants who provided final-round critiques clearly felt that Melinda Clayton’s entry,  “For weeks I sat…” deserved the top prize. The judges, however, had this entry just out of the medals, as Honorable Runner-up.

Was this some sort of deliberate snub by the judges? Nope, not at all. In fact, both judges explained to me that they had studiously avoided reading any reader feedback until after they had finished their deliberations. And that, my friends, is exactly what the final-round contest rules allowed —

Our two contest judges are free to accept or ignore reader ratings, as they see fit. Decisions of the judges are final, and not subject to adjustment based on any mathematical calculations based on reader ratings.

The judges also explained that when our finalists added more sentences to their original 3-sentence excerpts — again, exactly as the rules provided — that changed the entire running order! 

So, friends, I designed this contest, and all of you played just as the rules requested you to play. Honestly, the level of talent and interaction among our contestants was far beyond what I had hoped for. This contest was, frankly, amazing to watch. Thank you all!

Now, our winners have been very patient. I did sneak in a “preview” winning-order message shortly after my original announcement deadline — but it’s likely many of our contestants didn’t see that one. So, without further discussion, here are…

The Medal Awards for our Finalists

Bronze Medal, 3rd Place and $10 cash, goes to PJ Yusten’s much-discussed entry which began “Eva naughty. Me naughty,…”. If there was an award based strictly upon the level of reader interaction, this entry would probably have won outright. (Click the quoted snippet to read PJ’s entire entry.)

Silver Medal, 2nd Place and $15 cash, is awarded to Kae Bender for our only non-fiction finalist entry. Kae’s entry excerpted a forum essay about Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy, and began, “What I’ve realized as…”.  Reader reaction was consistently positive. (Click the quoted phrase to see more.)

Gold Medal, 1st Place and $20 cash. Our sincere congratulations go to “Nyaran” (absolutely no relation to judge, Tammy Narayan), for her winning entry,  “Born during that time…”. Nyaran’s 3 added sentences may have bolstered her intriguing entry, earning it the top slot. Although readers’ ratings were mixed, the judges loved this one and described it as “mysterious and evocative.” Well done, Nyaran! (Click the quoted segment to read the rest.)

Medalists, please contact me directly to claim your cash and download your medals for display as you see fit. (email me: jimbessey [@] SoWrite.Us.com)

Congratulations to all of our finalists. My heartfelt thanks go out to judges Carolyn Varvel and Tammy Narayan for your hard work and thoughtful analysis. I’ll forward Carolyn’s messages to those writers she has invited to contribute to future publications from Wormhole Electric Publishing.

What can you expect in the next contest?

We’re getting very close to a good, well-oiled contest format. Yes, we had a couple of glitches along the way, one of which I still can’t explain or repair (so I hope it doesn’t happen again). Here are some ideas I have for the next round.

• Continue the “3 Sentence Excerpt” format.
• Provide clearer impact of the contestants’ ratings for entries, both rounds.
• Develop improved guidelines for those ratings.
• Encourage contestants to make good use of links to their websites, books, etc.
• Should we eliminate the “add up to 3 more sentences” part of the Medal Round?
• Invite more sponsors, so I can offer higher cash prizes!

What other concerns or requests do you have? Please add your ideas and feedback in the Comments section here.

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With grateful thanks to our charter site and contest sponsor:

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Dawn has earned our $31 First Place prize for her entry

— We had so many great entries!

Before we get to the other finalists, let’s have a look at Dawn’s winning “Best Opening Paragraph.” Here’s what she wrote:

I made the mess myself. I couldn’t say no. I almost felt like it was an obligation. The only problem was, I didn’t know where the obligation to them stopped and to myself began. Now this is what is left. They shredded me to bits, parts of me were scattered around the world, parts of me I once liked and parts of me I now loathe. My only wish, most of the time, was to be left alone, to wallow in my own pain and self-pity or to disintegrate into the cold, dark confines of a shallow grave. I got my wish I suppose, but she gave me hope, a hope I don’t remember ever having before. That hope, the hope she gave me, the recipe of which should be tucked in an old wooden box and placed high atop a shelf for posterity’s sake, that’s the hope that helped me survive the end of my life.

Dawn’s submission was our panel of judges’ unanimous choice for First Place. Congratulations, Dawn, and thank you very much for your entry.

Our SECOND PRIZE,  $20 cash, goes to Anne Parfitt-Rogers

Here’s how Anne’s mysterious entry began:

The faintest glint of moonlight shone through the open door, illuminating the body lying motionless on the carpet. Ballantyne peered down at the dead man, taking note of the trail of blood emanating from the wound penetrating deep within his abdomen. Funny, he could have sworn …

Congratulations on a very close race, Anne!

We have more prizes, too, for our March contest:

THIRD PRIZE: Your choice of free e-book courtesy of Rocking Horse Publishing goes to Gerald Dlubala for “Janey walked up…” (click here to read the whole entry) The battle for these final three places was a very close one, hotly-argued among our four judges. Congratulations, Gerald!

FOURTH PLACE, One free digital copy of The Fires of Waterland by Raymond Alexander Kukkee, will be awarded to Mary Horner, the author of “Terry Jake didn’t…”  (click here to read the entire entry) I just heard from Mary, and have edited this announcement to include her name. (Thanks, Mary!)

FIFTH PLACE, One free digital copy of The View from Above by Gary Ponzo (a SoWrite Editor’s Pick anthology), will be awarded to Kerry Wood. His entry began “My cousins said…” (click here to read the rest of Kerry’s entry)  I’ll be in touch with the details, Kerry.

Our $10 BONUS PRIZE, awarded at random to one non-finalist, is awarded to Olivia Bredbenner, for her entry “She stood on…” (click here to read Olivia’s entry) This is my heartfelt “thank you for entering” prize, just for the fun of it.

IN ADDITION, Carolyn Varvel will shortly contact two of our contestants with an invitation for possible publication courtesy of WormholeElectric.com. I’ll send those two invitations, folks, so please check your email inboxes later today.

All cash prizes will be awarded by midnight tonight. 

 Congrats to all finalists and thank you to all entrants!

Please extend a warm round of applause to this round’s wonderful panel of four judges:

Special thanks to our site and contest sponsors:

»Award badge graphic by:  Jim Bessey

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Did you miss your chance to enter our merged March writing contest? Use the sign-up form below to make sure you are notified when our next competition begins.

With a respectful nod to the Big Game being played today in New Orleans, I’m excited to announce our judging panel’s decision for the winner of our January Jumpstart contest, “What happens next?”

Let’s raise a glass of something vile and home-brewed to humorist Mac Pike for his First Place entry:

(Julie Helm’s  winning First Sentence from December begins the scene)

“This I confess, and nothing more!” she cried aloud to the howling throng.

The mob was maddened beyond reason. They beat upon the great table with knife pommel and beer stein, they bellowed and gibbered and gnashed their teeth. The young ones eyed her with pimply ill will, protesting or weeping openly in accordance with their ages and temperaments.

“Oh yes!” she continued, “I wanted the pie! I desired the pie! It is fair to say I lusted after the pie with a depraved and unholy hunger!

“Notwithstanding, know this, and know this well! It was not I, who stole the pie.”

“But I damn well know who did!”

The judges’ final decision was unanimous for this #14 entry.

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For his winning entry, Mac receives the $32 First Place prize and first choice of prizes from our two new contest sponsors: English Trackers Expert Editing and Wormhole Electric Publishing.

In addition, I’ll invite Mac to participate in SoWrite’s next contest as a judge, rather than a contestant.

Here are our runners-up, subjects of lively debate among our 4 judges:

Taking the silver medal, from novelist/editor Tammy Narayan (#18):

“This I confess, and nothing more!” she cried aloud to the howling throng.

“Oh shit, Wendy the Wart-Nosed palmed her meds!”

Jack’s yell was lost in the melee. Six frantic patients in paper slippers and one shocked resident back-pedaled their plastic chairs away from the ‘sharing circle’ with varying degrees of success thanks to the uneven linoleum. Wendy, already standing on her seat, raked her nails down her sallow cheeks, drawing blood.

“It burns! IT BURNS!”

Jack turned to Eddie. “Five cigarettes say she lands in solitary for a week.”

“You’re on.”

Jack grinned as the orderlies pushed gibbering patients aside to wrestle Wendy to the ground. “Man, I love new resident day!”

Earning the bronze medal, from prolific author Glory Lennon (#12):

“This I confess, and nothing more!” she cried aloud to the howling throng.

She walked off the podium, straight into the clutches of her most intimate and trusted adviser.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” he shouted over the deafening noise, grabbing her arms in a fierce grip.

“Why, yes, I do believe I just may have ousted a sitting tyrant and replaced him with me. Proud of me, Darling?” she said, her smile widening.

In all, we had 18 entries for the January contest — a great showing after our early slow start in Week One. Site-subscribing contestants were allowed to submit one free entry, with additional entries allowed to help build the prize award at a buck apiece.

Our wonderful panel of four judges — Julie (December winner), Raymond (November winner), Carolyn (WormholeElectric.com) and Bridget (English Trackers, Editors) — spent quite a wild 24 hours hashing out the order of our runners-up, including two entries tied for Fourth Place: #19 from Petra Newman, and #7 from Sarah C Helms. 

I hope you’ll take the time to read and comment on ALL of our entered sentences: Contest Page is here.

We have a $10 Bonus Prize, too, as a big Thank You for entering. I’ll award that to one random non-finalist later this evening. (Check the contest page comments area to find out who gets this prize.)

Thanks once again to everyone who participated in January’s Jumpstart jackpot contest. This wasn’t as easy as I might have thought, and we all had a ton of fun.

Please watch for February’s contest, to be announced after Valentine’s Day.

»photo credit:  davitydave

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To help celebrate the holiday season, I’m very happy to announce our judges’ choice as the winner of our December Jackpot contest, “Best Opening Sentence.”

Congratulations to writer Julie Helms for her First Place entry:

“This I confess, and nothing more!” she cried aloud to the howling throng.

Julie’s entry was chosen by unanimous decision from among our three contest finalists. Here’s what our judges had to say about this winning opening sentence:

 This is the top pick, first prize. There is not much doubt about this one. This is a wonderful lead-in, high ‘wow’ factor (5/5) because it has instantaneous brilliance, sets the scene immediately, displays dramatic intensity, tension, emotion, –and piques the imagination immediately by suggesting wrongful condemnation and, imminent danger. It offers an unknown but very high- potential back story. This is a powerful opening sentence and has easily earned first prize. This is very well done.

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For her winning entry, Julie receives the $35.50 First Place prize and our sincere congratulations.

In addition, I’ll invite her to participate in SoWrite’s next contest as a judge, rather than a contestant.

Here are our runners-up, along with the judges’ comments:

Taking the silver medal, from writer Alistair Marquise:

Just as the pages of an unscrupulous businessman’s ledger are blown backward by the frigid breath of a shattered pane, so too does the brittle night fall upon this city in ever-increasing layers of aphotic guilt.

With a high “wow” factor, this sentence is clearly our first runner-up because it displays wonderful imagery. This IS really beautiful writing, even with the seemingly unnecessary word “aphotic” included. We had some reservations about the inclusion of that rare word, which we both had to look up for definition. Inclusion of that word did not, however, destroy the potential.

There is little doubt this opener is elegant –and offers potential for an amazing story. The ‘frigid breath’ ‘brittle night’ and ‘ever-increasing layers’ offer wonderful imagery.

Taking the bronze medal, from author Robin Tidwell:

She took the phone call out in the hallway.

This was the toughest choice. Why? On the surface, this sentence can be dismissed as extremely simple and common. Everybody takes calls out in the hall.

“The call” however, IS a wide open, dangerous unknown that is capable of invoking tremendous fear in some readers for specific reasons. The absolute unknown is a powerful factor in raising emotion. This sentence is subliminal, neat, concise and is very adaptable to the beginning of a story in any genre.

In all, we had 21 entries for the December contest — more than triple the number we had for our debut November contest event. Our judges, Tammy and Raymond, agreed that this was a fun contest to decide — but the decisions weren’t easy. Our contestants once again displayed a high level of talent.

I hope you’ll take the time to read and comment on ALL of our entered sentences: Contest Page is here.

We had a $10 Bonus Prize, too, as a big Thank You for entering. In fact, I ended up awarding TWO of those bonuses. Want to learn more about how that worked out? Here’s the link to my posting:

https://sowrite.us.com/december-jackpot/#comment-764

Thanks once again to everyone who participated in December’s Jackpot contest. It really was quite a lot of fun. Please watch for January’s contest, to be announced after the New Year.

Speaking of that: Happy Holidays to all, and to all an amazing New Year!

»photo credit:  marcn

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