1st Place--PETER DUDLEY, Sliding (#90)
[Prize: $50 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Ascension" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)]
2nd Place--JAMES R. TOMLINSON, If You'd Only Pay Attention (#8)
[Prize: $20 Amazon gift certificate]
3rd Place--DOTTIE CAMPTOWN, Static Ellen (#54)
[Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate]
4th Place--VICTOR BRAVO MONCHEGO, JR., Up is Fine (#17)
[Prize: $10 Amazon gift certificate]
5th Place--ANGELIQUE H. CAFFREY, Infinity (#12)
[Prize: $5 Amazon gift certificate]
Honorable Mention--DONNA DICKSON, The List (#6)
Honorable Mention--LAUGHINGWOLF, Shafted (#28)
Honorable Mention--LAURIE X, At the Still Point of the Turning World (#40)
Honorable Mention--JANEY V, The Valentine's Date (#49)
Honorable Mention--PRECIE, Breakthrough (#62)
Honorable Mention--WAYNE SCHEER, A Balanced Life (#70)
Honorable Mention--McKOALA, That Day (#74)
Honorable Mention--JOHN McAULEY, In Blue (#112)
Honorable Mention--AERIN ROSE, Squaring Up (#118)
Honorable Mention--ESTHER AVILA, Waiting on a Miracle (#125)
READERS' CHOICE AWARD:
Readers' Choice, 1st Place--DINA MURPHY, And the Gobstoppers Rolled Like Marbles (#60)
[Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Ascension" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)]
Readers' Choice, 2nd Place--ANGELIQUE H. CAFFREY, Infinity (#12)
[Prize: $10 Amazon gift certificate]
Readers' Choice, 3rd Place (TIE)--JOSH VOGT, Cleanup in the Food Court (#44)
[Prize: $5 Amazon gift certificate]
Readers' Choice, 3rd Place (TIE)--J. SCOTT ELLIS, The Yes Man (#83)
[Prize: $5 Amazon gift certificate]
*********
As always, choosing was painful. You all deserve a massive round of applause. Everyone has something valuable to take away.
STATS
Just how successful was it? Your 125 entries have generated 38,813 hits from 8,495 unique visitors! I'm grateful for such a wonderful turnout.
SCORING & FEEDBACK
Over the course of the next day, I will be adding comments on those entries which scored high in one or more of the judging categories. Also, I have added an asterisk next to the names of inductees into the Clarity of Night Forties Club. These entries earned a combined score of 40 or above and represent solid writing in my judgment.
KEEP THE COMMUNITY GOING
Don't let the community end here. I hope to see all of you back 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 great contest experience and for all of the excellent writing. Give the winners a pat on the back for their outstanding work.
The Clarity of Night will now be powering down from contest mode and returning to normal content.
It's been great fun! Feel free to contact me anytime.
You will always find a welcoming place here.
46 comments:
An absolutely well deserved list I must say! Most of these were on my favorites!
Compliments to you too, Jason for making this such a big success! Keep them coming :)
Congratulations to all the Winners and Participants ... Participation is the key mates and the amount of learning is absolutly important!!
Keep writing - all of you and have fun!!
Congratulations everyone! Excellent choices all!!
grats to all the winners, superb jobs, all :D
uh, jason... the title of my piece is: shafted, so dunno if it got the honorable mention?
Heartiest Congratulations to all well deserving winners! Treat... Treat.... Treat!!!! :-D
Shame on me.... I missed out on reading a couple of winners... Guess its never too late to wake up! :) :)
3 cheers to Jason and the winners ladies and gents....
Congratulations to the winners!
What a wonderful contest it has been.Thanks Jason for being such a wonderful host :)
Oustanding job everyone!
And Jason, you have outdone yourself! You have created such a warm, welcoming community here-- the world could learn much from your example. You are a true leader among men...
Now go put your feet up, have a margarita, and relax!!
Love you!
:)
I'm sure the winners all greatly appreciate your applause! Thank you all for a wonderful contest!!
(Laughingwolf, sorry about the title. I fixed it. Yes, indeed, congratulations on the honorable mention!)
Thanks Aine. :) (Not time to rest quite yet. :p )
Love you too!
Congratulations to all the winners.
Well done, you all deserved to win.
It was a great contest, thanks again Jason for hosting it.
I know I can learn a lot from all the winners....Been great fun...looking forward to more..
Rock on - this was a great contest and I love love love the new feedback/Forties Club process.
So. When's the next one?
I'm stoked to have cracked the readers choice lineup. Thanks for the votes everyone! As usual, thanks to Jason for hosting another legendary contest. Mostly, congrats to the winners, and to all the folks who made new friends.
Congratulations to all the winners...
Thanks Jason for this opportunity...
Congratulations to the winners! Well done, all who took part! I am amazed by the vast array of writing talents out there!
Congratulations to all the Winners!
and thnx Jason. this was truly a learning platform!
Congratulations to all the winners!
this has been a great contest, a truckload of thanks and bows to Jason. Thanks again man.
Contrats to the winners! I think the 40 club is a great idea and it's nice to know that our writing at least scored high. I am a VERY proud member of the 40 Club! I squeeled when I saw the star next to my name! :)
Congrats to the winners, and also to everyone who took the plunge and entered. Great job, everyone! Jason, special thanks to you for providing such a welcoming environment for creativity.
Wow. Thank you Jason. I am humbled and honored. My wife is a teacher, so I will give her the Amazon gift certificate so she can buy books for her classroom.
I am still amazed by the number of entries and the quality. Even on average, the quality is, well, above average.
I have a fondness for your contests, Jason. Although this is only my second one, I am happy to say that I met more than one of my current blogger buddies through the first one I participated in.
I am quite aflutter.
thx jason... i was confused for a bit :)
Really good stuff! Jason you must have had a tough time! Pretty neat the way you conduct these things, I will keep visiting this blog. And share link when I get serious about setting up mine :) But I did like this format, I usually love writing from inspiration drawn on photos, paintings,etc. it just gets the creative juices flowing. Congratulations to all the winners!
Congratulations to all the winners - and thanks, Jason. It's been fun.
when's the next when's the next when's the next??????
You put a hell of a lot of hard work into this.
Thank you.
Congratulations to all the winners! And to everyone who tossed their hat in the ring. What a great group of writers you've inspired, Jason.
Congrats to the winners,
:)
Thank you, jason, for holding this contest,
Hope there's gonna be another one soon.
:)
Congratulations, everyone! I wrestled over my votes, because there were simply so many worthy choices. Everyone can be proud of their achievement here.
And thank you, Jason, for all you do. Words aren't enough. :)
Congrats to all the winners!! Congrats to all the participants!
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks, Jason!!!
Its been fun, reading the stories, interacting with other writers and also got an opportunity to make new friends!!!
Yay winners! Thanks again, Jason for giving us a forum to rub shoulders with a fantastic community of writers.
@ Jason Evans
You do not have a Followers Link in here ... How do I know if you host a new contest sometime ...
Please do something for letting us know about the same ...
Congrats to all the very deserving winners!!! What a phenomenal contest!
I'm thrilled by my Honorable Mention and the 40 club in such a tough contest!
Thanks, Jason and Aine, for all your work and hospitality!
Thank you for running another great contest. :)
Hi,
Although I used to visit here a few years ago now and then, I lost my links. I didn't realize until now that you're the same "Jason" on OMM's site. How very nice of you to host a contest and with prizes, no less!
Congrats to all the winners and those who gave it the good ole college try! I look forward to reading these.
Congratulations to everyone! What a fun contest this was! I hope there's another contest soon! :D
Thanks, Jason! Congrats to everyone... and thanks for the votes, too. I was surprised, but it was a pleasant way to start the morning!
Can't wait until the next one...
Angelique
(Is the "40 Club" like the "Mile High Club" without the sex and airplanes and sneakiness?)
Jason, thank you so much for another exciting contest. It's been amazing reading through all the entries. Big congrats to the mighty Pete for a well-deserved win. Pete I've said before but I'll say it again - you rock mate! Congrats also to all the runners up and to the other honorable mentionees. I am psyched to be in your presence.
A huge huge thank you to all the other entrants for the wonderful support and warm comments. This is a very special blog Jason. Thank you.
BIG kudos to each and every winner in every catagory! What wonderful stories, all! Jason, fantastic judging! I know it wasn't easy, but is anything worthwhile easy?? I applaud the Reader's Choice awards, as well. I have to order another pair of contacts - I wore out my other pair - reading!
Congratulations all !!! A very fulfilling event.
Huge thanks to Jason, Sarah & Jaye :).
Congratulations to all of the winners of this contest! Each one was certainly worthy of the recognition!
Jason, to you --- thank you, thank you, thank you! The time and effort you put into hosting, posting, judging, and commenting on these entries was incredible. You have fostered a community, and for allowing me to peep in, I thank you.
Aine, I hope you get your husband back! Thanks for the loan.
@ Karen: :) :) :) :) :)
The loan was extremely benefeciary wasn't it? And we wouldn't have got Jason's dedicated efforts if it wasn't for Aine's support and inspiration! I pray that when I find the gal of my dreams... she proves out to be half as understanding as Aine is! :)
congratulations everyone, all the stories are fantastic! Thanks for the fun!
I'm humbled to be your host, everyone!! These contests are all about you, and you certainly made this a spectacular one. Thank you!!
To answer some questions:
*When is the next contest? I'm currently planning to host Jaye Wells in a joint contest to celebrate the release of her novel RED-HEADED STEPCHILD. We're shooting for May or June.
*How will you know about the next contest? You can subscribe to the Clarity of Night feed or email service. Also, if you participated, I will send you an email to announce the next contest.
*Is the Forties Club like the mile high club? Yes.
*Why don't you make entries anonymous to ensure impartial voting? That would defeat the main purpose of the contest, which is to mingle, make friends, and support each other. The contest period is when blogs are visited and people interact. Even if I could police it (which I can't), anonymous posting would cripple that opportunity. Lastly, the main judging is my judging. The Readers' Choice Award was added to increase the fun and allow other opinions to be represented.
Wow, amazing turnout and some great stories. I didn't vote for reader's choice because I wasn't able to get around to all the stories, but the ones I read were wonderful expansions on the picture.
Congrats to all the winners!
Congratulations everyone!
Great stories one and all.
Jason, this is by far the best and most productive critiquing that you've done in all your contests in my opinion. I think everyone will find it both helpful and constructive.
Thank you.
Congrats to all the winners - there were just so many great stories I lost count and couldn't get to them all. Hence I didn't vote either ... but I thought they were all fantastic. Well done.
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