Friday, April 28, 2006

Winners Announcement--"Two Lights" Short Fiction Contest

Let's get right to it, shall we?

1st Place--JAMIE FORD, "GIVING HER THE BIRD" (#19).

$25 Amazon gift certificate and an 8x10 print of the contest photograph or any other photograph in the gallery.

2nd Place--ESTHER AVILA, Entry #6.

$10 Amazon gift certificate and an 8x10 print of the contest photograph or any other photograph in the gallery.

3rd Place--J.T. ELLISON, "You Say Monet, I Say Manet" (#14).

An 8x10 print of the contest photograph or any other photograph in the gallery.

Honorable Mention--S.F. JOHNSTON, "Every Hope and Dream" (#33).

Honorable Mention--ZARA CALVENTE, "Too Well Illumined" (#31).

Congratulations to the winners!! I would ask the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners to email me with their contact information so I can arrange for delivery of their prizes. Also, please select either the contest photograph or any other photograph from [the gallery] for your prize.

Now for a word about the judging:

In order to better manage the process, I developed a scoring system I named "P.E.T.S. Voice." I awarded points (up to the maximum indicated) for each of these five elements: Pacing (10), Enjoyment (10), Technical (10), Storytelling (10), and Voice (5)*. I then set aside the eight top scorers for a fresh review and selection of the winners. Although all entries stood out in one or more categories, the winners succeeded in all five with exceptional skill.

Starting Monday (I will be away for the weekend), I will comment on each entry about what I liked best. If you are also interested in constructive comments, drop me an email, and I would be happy to offer whatever suggestions I might have.

Thank you again for such an amazing contest. During the course of this week, your entries generated 5,362 hits! WOW! I was also very impressed by how supportive this community of writers has been.

I hope to see all of you back here and on your own blogs. Drop me a note if you'd like to trade links.

Happy writing, and have a great weekend!

--Jason


[*Scoring was reduced for voice, since it is difficult to establish a unique voice in so short a piece.]

24 comments:

anne said...

Congratulations, guys! Those prizes are well deserved.
And Jason, congratulations for this resounding success. :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to all the winners. I'm glad I did't have to choose out of all those entries! Great contest, Jason!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Thanks Jason, that was great fun. Congrats to all the other winners and everyone who took the time to submit.

Turkey aromas. Go figger.

Bernita said...

Lots of fun, Jason.
Sandra, wanted to say yours was one of my favorites!

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say congratulations to all the winners and HM's, and qpplaud everyone who entered,. Thsi was a wonderful contest -- I loved that we got to see the other entries.
Nice job, Jason. Can't wait for the next one!

Erik Ivan James said...

Congratulations to the winners. All deserved.

Jason, thanks for a fun contest. It was a good challenge. Looking forward to the next event.

Unknown said...

Jason,

Thanks for presenting the opportunity to share my writing and to read others. Very strong writing from the entire body of entries I thought. Really good stuff.

And to the deserving winners and all participants. Congratulations and thanks so much for sharing. It made for some great reading. Thanks again, John Wilson.

anne frasier said...

woo-hoo, jamie!!!

Anonymous said...

Jason, thanks for putting this gig together. And thanks again to those who took the time to read and comment on my entry. [ Writing a 140+/- word nonpolitical story about a family losing two sons in two wars was a real challenge. ]

Congrats to the winners, your stories shine brightly! [Sorry, had to throw one of my awful puns in :) ]

John McAuley

Jeff said...

Congratulations to the winners! Great job! :)
It was good to see so much participation. Thanks for sponsoring the contest, Jason.

Andrea Allison said...

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Anonymous said...

Anne and Sandra, you're welcome! Every entry had strong points. Picking the winners was very hard.

Jamie, congratulations!! Your entry speaks for itself.

Bernita, I'll always have a special memory of Sandra's entry. She was the brave one to go first, and did a fine job too!

JT, congratulations!! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I read yours. :D What a great example of what can be accomplished in a few words.

Erik and John, my pleasure! Now I'm looking forward to giving my own comments on your great writing!

Anne, I agree. :D

John and Jeff, I really enjoyed doing it. Thanks for playing such an important part.

Southern, a toast to the winners!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to the winners and to you Jason for coming up with such a great contest.

Anthony Rapino said...

Congrats to all winners. I'm bummed out that I didn't have time to enter. Maybe next time. Congrats again.

Robin said...

Congratulations to the winners! Thanks, Jason, for the fun contest you put together! Great participation!

Lyn said...

Jason, Fantastic job hosting and judging the event. First time participant; enjoyed the experience and all the stories. Congrats to the Top 5 - I've linked to some of my favorites at Bloggin' Outloud - http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com/
Lyndon

chong y l said...

Thanks the host here for a fun outing.
Congrats to the winners.
To the rest, thanks for great company -- learning lots too.

Bhaswati said...

Many congratulations to the winners--deserving all of them. I enjoyed reading those entries a lot. And I had a great time reading the others too. A mine of talent to be found in the entries posted here.

Jason, a big round of applause to you; the contest was fantastic! Yes, we must have more of them, if only for inspiration and the chance to learn from each other in such a fun way. Do keep them coming :)

mr. schprock said...

I have to say that was a wonderful exercise. Brevity, after all, is the soul of wit — or, to put it in The Simpsons/Reader's Digest form: "Brevity . . . is wit." I had fun and look forward to giving your blog a closer read when time allows.

Lyn said...

"schprock...funny"
lol :-)
lgp

Esther Avila said...

It was fun. Thanks. Congratulations to everyone - for submitting and to the other winners. I really enjoyed this.
I just came in from being gone to a writer's conference on Friday/Saturday so it was quite exciting. :) Thanks, Jason, for running this fun contest.
Esther

Anonymous said...

Eileen and BeadinggalinMS, thanks!

Anthony, hope to see you on the next one!

Robin, thanks for the wonderful entry!

Lyn, you were one of the top commenters. Thanks for all of your great support!

Desiderata, what a great group. Thanks for being a part of it.

Bhaswati, thanks so much. You were another huge supporter.

Mr. Schprock, I just did my own version. Those size constraints force some seriously sharp writing!

Ester, my #2 winner!! Congratulations! Can you email me your contact info? Thanks.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Congratulations to all the winners. And Jason, keep up the great work. This is both fun and energizing. Jer

Anonymous said...

Jer, you all have inspired me too. I'm glad to be a part of such a great group.