Monday, August 06, 2007

Winners Announcement--"Halo" Short Fiction Contest

The moment you have been waiting for has arrived! It's my pleasure to recognize the following writers:

1st Place--STEPHEN BLACKMOORE, Beautiful Places (#41)
[Prize: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Halo" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)]

2nd Place--AMANDA EARL, The Scent of Red (#63)
[Prize: $20 Amazon gift certificate]

3rd Place--JOHN McAULEY, Policies (#77)
[Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate]

4th Place--DOTTIE CAMPTOWN, Mr. Fifth Date (#72)
[Prize: $10 Amazon gift certificate]

5th Place--ANN OSTRANDER, The Truth (#37)
[Prize: $5 Amazon gift certificate]

Honorable Mention--JAYE WELLS, Faery Rings and Broken Dreams (#28)

Honorable Mention--ROB, Guide Me Home (#29)

Honorable Mention--VICTOR B. MONCHEGO, JR., Three-Fourths of an Ounce (#32)

Honorable Mention--CANTERBURY SOUL, Miss James (#35)

Honorable Mention--SARAH HINA, Chasing the Sun (#54)


READERS' CHOICE AWARD:

Readers' Choice--STEPHEN BLACKMOORE, Beautiful Places (#41)
[Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate, (already receiving a signed photo)]

1st Runner-Up, Readers' Choice--SARAH HINA, Chasing the Sun (#54)
[Prize: 8 x 10 print of the "Halo" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)]

2nd Runner-Up, Readers' Choice--A.H. CAFFREY, Inheritance (#7)

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Special congratulations goes out to Stephen Blackmoore, our first double winner since the "Midnight Road" Short Fiction Contest a year ago. Good job, man!

You probably know by now that this contest featured very strong writing from many participants. In my Note About Judging, I explained that usually 20% of the entries make the second round of judging. This time, the number was 27%. That means one simple thing. There was great writing out there and many deserving entries. Thank you for a wonderful contest!

STATS
Just how good was it? This was the second most successful Clarity of Night contest. Your 83 entries have generated 20,006 hits from 4,330 unique visitors! I'm grateful for such a huge turnout.

MORE COMMENTS
Over the course of next few days, I will be adding a comment to each entry saying what I liked best about it. If you would like constructive comments by private email, drop me a line at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com. Even if you mentioned constructive comments to me earlier, it wouldn't hurt to remind me in a separate email.

KEEP THE COMMUNITY GOING
Don't let the community end here. I hope to see all of you back here at The Clarity of Night and on your own blogs. I'd love to trade links if you're up to it!

*********

Thanks again for a wonderful contest experience. Give yourselves a round of applause for excellent writing, and pat the winners on the back for their outstanding work.

The Clarity of Night will now be powering down from contest mode and returning to normal content. At this point, I'm planning for the next contest in early to mid fall.

Check back for the end of the "Westinghoused" series, a fictionalized version of the events which led up to the first use of the electric chair. Was it punishment or a shocking public relations stunt? (No pun intended.)

It's been great fun. Feel free to contact me anytime. You'll always find a welcoming place here.

24 comments:

Jaye Wells said...

First, Jason thank you again for another great contest. As usual I've met some really fantastic people all because you brought us together.

Second, congrats to all the winners. I was happy to see many of my favorites make the list.

Sarah Hina said...

Congratulations to all the winners, and particularly to Stephen for two well-deserved crowns!

I'm honored by everyone who voted for my entry, and can't wait to receive Jason's photo in the mail. This contest was a pure delight for me. Thanks, Jason, for all your hard work, and to everyone involved!

Amanda Earl said...

gosh, thanks so much. i'm shocked ! thanks especially to Pearl who told me about the contest. and to you, Jason. wowsers.

JRVogt said...

Congratulations to all those who placed. It is well deserved. And it's been wonderful to read every story included in the contest. The explosion of creativity here continues to astound me.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to all winners, esp Stephen! I believe all of us enjoyed writing in such contests.

Thank you, Jason, for giving mine an honorable mention! Surely more such contests will spur me further each time. :)

AngelConradie said...

thanx jason for another brilliant competition! and HUGE congratulations to all the winners!!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to the winners, thanks for all the hardwork Jason, and well done to all the writers!

Dottie Camptown said...

Thank you, Jason. I'm hooked on your site and your community of writers. It is great to be included.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all the winners!! What a great assortment of stories. And a big thank you to Jason for running his contests.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, Jason. For the placement yes, but mostly for all your hard work! What a great way to interrupt the summer.

Congratulations to all the other winners!!!

Unknown said...

Great contest! Congrats to the winners!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Jason. I might not have won anything, but I may have discovered my next novel idea (maybe I'll even finish!), and I think that's just as valuable.

The Quoibler said...

Congrats to everyone!

(And a special thank you to those who voted for #7 for readers' fave. The mention means a great deal to me!)

This was the first online contest I've entered, and I really found it exciting and stimulating.

Jason, you're a genius to bring us all together in such a supportive forum.

:)

Angelique

The Anti-Wife said...

Congratulations to all the winners!

Hoodie said...

Congrats to the winners!

What a perfectly fun contest!

SzélsőFa said...

Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to Jason! It was a great opportunity.

Stephen Blackmoore said...

Wow. Thank you so much.

Considering how many amazing writers contributed to this I am shocked that I won anything, much less both categories.

A fantastic contest and amazing reads. Thank you for putting this together and congratulations not only to the winners, but to everyone willing to take up the challenge.

Anthony Rapino said...

Congrats to all the winners!

Anonymous said...

Jaye, Sara, Amanda, Josh, Canterbury Soul, Angel, Jade, Dottie, Sandra, Ann, Ally, Paul, Angelique, Anti-Wife, Hoodie, SzélsőFa, Stephen, and Onipar,

Thank you all! You've all been such a huge part of this. You have my deep appreciation.

Anonymous said...

i've been a fan of stephen's for a long time. i want to adopt him so when his first book comes out i can say my kid wrote this.

Unknown said...

Huge congratulations to the winners - very well deserved - and congratulations and thanks to all who participated and to Jason for organising it all.

Chris Eldin said...

This contest was sooo much fun! And I so much work for Jason. Thank you for hosting it!!
I loved reading all of the entries--what a wonderful experience to see all the different approaches to the same photo!

Thanks again!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to do this, Jason, it was great!

Congratulations to the winners. :)

Anonymous said...

Looks like there were some pretty good entries, congrats to all the winners.