Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Readers' Choice Award Voting ("In Vino Veritas")

The "In Vino Veritas" Short Fiction Contest is now closed.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful week! Amazing turn out!! Just amazing.

But we have WAY more fun in store!

READERS' CHOICE AWARD
Voting for the Readers' Choice Award is now open!

This portion of the contest is open to everyone who submitted an entry. Here are the rules:

  1. Contest participants are invited to vote on their top 5 favorite entries by emailing me their votes to jevanswriter at yahoo dot com.
  2. Please vote by entry number and list your votes from 1 to 5 with 1 being your top vote.
  3. I will award 5 points for your 1st vote, 4 points for your 2nd vote, 3 points for your 3rd, 2 points for your 4th, and 1 point for your 5th.
  4. You may not vote for your own entry. Please specify your entry number at the beginning of your email.
  5. At the close of Readers' Choice Award voting, I will tally the points. The winner will be the entry with the most points.
  6. I guarantee at least one Readers' Choice Award; however, depending upon the results of the contest, I reserve the right to award additional Readers' Choice Awards in the order of their rank. Additional awards, if given, may be with or without a prize.

As you read, please keep the comments coming. Feedback and appreciation is the fuel along the lonely road of writing. If you find folks whose writing moves you, visit their blogs or ask where you can find more. Enjoy your own judging, and above all, have fun!

Cast your votes before Monday, July 20th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.). At that time, Jaye and I will let you know when the winners will be announced.

AND THERE'S MORE!!

Tomorrow, Jaye throws her hat into the ring. Stay tuned for her own take on the "In Vino Veritas" picture! Enjoy!! (I hear Sabina Kane, our red-headed stepchild, may make an appearance.)

And finally, in the tradition of Clarity of Night contests, I will also share my own vision of the contest photo.

Have a great night!

22 comments:

PJD said...

Thank you for another wonderful contest, Jason! I've only made it through about 45% of the entries so far (definitely will finish all of them), and I am again impressed with the overall quality... of both the writing and many of the comments. Clearly, readers are putting some thought into these as they read them. It's a big task to judge a contest like this, and we out there on the lonely road truly appreciate your efforts!

Esther Avila said...

Thanks again, Jason, for hosting these - you put so
much into them.
Entering is fun but you are right - even more fun once the contest ends. I always enjoy reading all of the stories.

JR's Thumbprints said...

It's been fun. I've read all 158 entries and picked 20 favorites. I'm hoping to narrow that down to 10 by Saturday, then 5 by Sunday. It's not easy, but still enjoyable.

Thanks for hosting. I'm looking forward to seeing your flash on the photograph, as well as Jaye's.

Aniket Thakkar said...

I still have 43 to read.
And honestly I intentionally slow down in the end too.

In Aine's language, its like reading those last few pages of Deathly Hallows. You know you have reached the end. There are no more stories after these. And that makes you really sad. :(

I'm already waiting for the next one to arrive. :D

I'll start visiting their blogs now for more awesome content. I also intend to give poetry more some serious efforts too.

Calling out for new teachers. Catherine, Karen, Margaret... Anyone wants an apprentice?? :D

PS: Eager to watch(read read) Sabina Kane in action!

As the Mind Meanders said...

Jason...

I am amazed at the talent and the skill that's out there... I have probably read about 30 odd random stories... and I am having trouble shortlisting my favorite 10 - leave alone five.

I dread having to choose five when I finish reading all...

But hats of to you. Thank you for the initiative...

Cliff said...

I'm not a writer and I didn't contribute; I'm a reader and I have very much enjoyed reading these short stories. I hope you all win. :)

I just thought I'd mention what a shame I think it is that Jason is using a 5/4/3/2/1 voting system. This always favors the people who get the 3s rather than the actual most popular stories. The solution is the single transferable vote which ensures that the first choice wins.

Having said that, good luck authors and thanks for a good read.

Cliff.

Chris Eldin said...

Can you give us a hint about the next contest?
;-)
heheheeh!

Seriously though, this has been the most fun I've had in a long time!!! I'm also looking forward to reading all of them. A few have stuck in my head, well, probably many more than a few. I don't envy the judges!!!
:-)



Word Ver (You can't make this stuff up!): nopicke

hahahahah I guess that means we're ALL winners!!!
:-)

Karen said...

Jason - I just want to add my thanks to the others and say that this you are contributing greatly to our delinquency - from everything else! This is great fun and hard work in the choosing.

Precie said...

Thank goodness we have until Monday!

Thanks, Jason and Jaye and Aine! These contests are always wonderful, and this one really bowled me over.

I eagerly anticipate Jaye's and Jason's takes on the image. (And, of course, I eagerly await the next contest, masochist that I am.)

laughingwolf said...

thx jason... another fun contest!

bring on the next challenge ;)

Anonymous said...

PJD, it's been a great turnout! I hope you enjoy your judging!!

September, this one has been a bit of work. ;) But so worth it!

JR, you've done an amazing job of embracing the spirit of the contest! Thank you!!

Aniket, awesome! Everyone should get out and visit their favorite writers' blogs. :)

As the Mind..., you're very welcome! I hope you enjoy exploring more.

Cliff, that might be statistically true in the wide world, but from juding 10 contest so far and counting votes, I can tell you that the winner get a high proportion of 5's. Also, elections don't have 158 candidates. The voting system you mention might be appropriate for small panels of candidates. And lastly, just reading the summary of the system made my head hurt. Have mercy on me. :)

Chris, next contest already?? He he. So glad you're having a blast!

Karen, the pleasure is mine. Truly. :)

Precie, we're eager to share too! They'll be up midday.

Laughingwolf, don't worry. There will be another. :)

Jaye Wells said...

Before I hunker down to begin judging all the entries (whimper), I just wanted to congratulate everyone who entered. I've been exactly where you in seven of Jason's contests, and I know it can be an act of bravery to share your stories sometimes. Kudos to all of you.

Laurel said...

This was the most fun I've had in aeons. Jason, thanks so much.

Regarding the judging: Regardless of how the system works it's a great exercise for writers to pick and rank favorites. It offers some insight into the process from the other side of publication. It's a competitive arena and being forced to choose illustrates the combination of factors that go into it.

Got two favorites? The one without the typo gets the nod. Two perfectly written pieces? The story you liked better. Some of the choice the writer has control over the outcome and some is subjective.

Good luck, everybody, but especially Jason and Jaye!

JRVogt said...

T'was a good romp!

joaquin carvel said...

although my employer has suffered massives losses in a particular individual's productivity, their failure to individualize perfromance metrics has been a gift.

thank you for this opportunity and for this community. there are bright, bright lights shining here.

Angela said...

Thanks for a stellar contest! I had a blast participating! I was a little intimidated to enter given the level of talent you've got here, but I sucked it up and went for it, and I'm so glad I did! I learned so much from this experience and it was a great place to get my feet wet going forward!

Also, I just have to say that not only have you set up a phenomenal blog, but the people who follow and leave comments on it are the most supportive, observant and intelligent in the entire blogger community! I'm so glad I found you guys!

laughingwolf said...

thx jaye, had a blast reading all entries... i don't envy your having to decide winners....

[word verif: RESTS] lol

Mona said...

it has been a fun 'exercise' ( pun intended)

Laurel said...

Joaquin: LOL!

Catherine Vibert said...

Whew! Just crossed the finish line. Wow, what a bunch of talent! Now to start the readover list. Oy vay! How to choose the best, OMG OMG OMG!

Precie said...

Um...okay...so I'm having a teensy bit of difficulty narrowing my list. My brain is numb.


And an idea...similar to Moonrat's Mischief list: Jason, it seems you've drawn quite a number of participants who have become published/agented writers since your contests began. I think it would be quite neat to see an Honor Roll in your sidebar--It's a testament both to your blog/contests and to their work as writers.

Aniket Thakkar said...

Am right behind you Cat.

Just finished, finally!

No clue whatsoever how to pick 5 though. Should have selected a few while reading them. Stupid me.