AND THE WINNER IS... [Archive] - Absolute Write Water Cooler

JennaGlatzer

07-20-2005, 09:41 AM

Sarah Kirkham Chauncey!
(better known 'round these parts as Firehorse)

Congrats, Sarah! You're a wonderful writer and you have quite a fan base here. We're expecting great things from you...

Of course, we're also expecting great things from William Haskins, our runner-up, who has brilliant style and a strong following here, too.

I've bumped the prize thread to remind us of what Sarah's won. There were 120 votes cast in the final round.

You both gave it your all every week and dazzled us. Congratulations!

:TheWave:

mkcbunny

07-20-2005, 09:43 AM

Congratulations, Sarah!

And congratulations to William for providing us all with so many great stories and poems duing the contest! You are both winners.

firehorse

07-20-2005, 09:49 AM

Wow! I totally didn't expect this. I'm stunned (and very, very happy).

Haskins is such an amazing writer - and there have been lots of amazing writers in this contest - it would've been an honor to come in second to him or - as he and I discussed - to have a tie.

Now I *must* sleep, because I have a major interview in eight hours... and this has boosted my confidence at the exact moment I really need it.

Thanks, Jenna - and everyone who voted (for me or otherwise - turnout is the important thing). What a huge list of prizes!

I'll be incommunicado most of Wednesday - at this 4-hour interview and then flying home.

Anyway, I don't want the orchestra to start playing, but I just wanted to say thanks!

BlueTexas

07-20-2005, 09:52 AM

Congrats, Sarah. I hope you go far!

William Haskins

07-20-2005, 09:54 AM

congratulations, sarah. i hope this leads to great things for you.

and thanks to everyone who participated - contestants, readers/voters and the mods and volunteers.

it was fun.

Patricia

07-20-2005, 10:08 AM

I'm not saying who I voted for, of course -- but I want to say it was a real hard decision on that last vote. You are both terrific writers, and personally I would have been happy with a tie also.

Good luck to both of you. I know you'll go far.

Birol

07-20-2005, 10:13 AM

Congratulations to you both.

Now the real work begins. :)

sgtsdaughter

07-20-2005, 10:17 AM

ditto what birol said. :D

reph

07-20-2005, 10:22 AM

Congratulations to the two winners – and both of you are winners.

mdmkay

07-20-2005, 10:30 AM

congrats both to Sarah and Hawkins....you both were fantastic and I imagine the vote was pretty close.

This will look great on your resume Sarah and I wish you all the luck in the future. You should be extremely proud because from the beginning it was a tough competition.:Clap:

sthrnwriter

07-20-2005, 11:31 AM

Congratulations Sarah and William! Great Job!

sharon

07-20-2005, 01:01 PM

:Clap: :Clap::Clap::Clap::Clap:Congratulations to both Sarah and William! You are both incredible writers with brilliant futures ahead of you. It was so much fun reading your entries, as well as the other contestants, throughout the contest. This was a fantastic contest from beginning to end. Thanks Jenna!!! Amazing talent here!
:banana: I can't wait for the next contest!:banana:

GailKavanagh

07-20-2005, 01:56 PM

Congrats, Sarah - cheers from Down Under!!!

This last vote was the hardest call yet - not saying who I voted for but both finalists thoroughly deserved to win.

When are we holding the next one?

aadams73

07-20-2005, 02:11 PM

Congratulations! Voting was very tricky as both finalists were brilliant. It has been a lot of fun reading.

ShadowGuide

07-20-2005, 03:57 PM

Contratulations Sarah! Now go forth and make us super-proud by continuing to kick butt! :)

Will, I have no doubt you will do the same - even without the AW Idol title.
Best wishes to you both! :Clap:

maestrowork

07-20-2005, 04:03 PM

Congrats, Sarah!!!!

And congrats, William!!!!!

You are both amazing writers, and I have true admiration for both of you. And what Birol said... now the real work begins.

Rock on!

I'm very proud of you both.

And Congrats, Jenna!!!!! You've run a truly amazing contest, and I hope you continue with it. (and I hope I win next time... Bwhahahahahah! ... nah)

And thanks for everyone who participated and helped out... Sara, Rich, Three for being the judges, Melina for counting the votes, and for all the cheerers and fans and naysayers alike. And thanks for the 120 or so faithful voters who stayed with this every week.

AW rocks.

brinkett

07-20-2005, 04:05 PM

Congratulations, Sarah.

And congrats to both for being terrific writers. Thanks for entertaining us.

mommie4a

07-20-2005, 04:11 PM

To you both. Thanks for giving us something to look forward to in each of the last....well, however many weeks that was.

All the best to all the winners of the contest. Write on.

rhymegirl

07-20-2005, 04:30 PM

Congratulations to Sarah! I knew you would do well right from the beginning.

Also Congratulations to William for writing such great stuff. Remember that you have a lot of fans here.

Keep in mind that this round of voting was particularly difficult since you both wrote such wonderful stories.

We're very proud of both of you!

jdkiggins

07-20-2005, 04:41 PM

Congratulations to both of you. As I said before, you are both very talented writers. :Clap:

Sarita

07-20-2005, 05:12 PM

Congrats to both of you. Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us each week. We expect HUGE things from you two.

ETA: Oh yeah! Jenna! Thanks so much for all of your time and hard work that went into arranging this contest. It was so much fun to see the contest come full circle, from auditions to finale. Thanks :)

bkrrh85

07-20-2005, 05:59 PM

Congratulations to Sarah, winner extraordinaire! Congrats as well to William Haskins whose work was incredible throughout the contest.

Sarah, I absolutely (I know, "ly") LOVED the Princess & Thera(pea) story. Do you mind if I print it off and share it with my family? I told them about it and they want to read it. It was a hoot.

Thanks

DJP

07-20-2005, 06:04 PM

stormie

07-20-2005, 06:23 PM

Congratulations, Sarah!

edfrzr

07-20-2005, 06:45 PM

Congratulations Sarah, and to Willie as well. Both of you are extremely talented and I wish the best and many great things to come. What I read when I had the time was incredible (from both of you).

Good luck. May your ideas be many and your pens always be full of ink.

Rhush

07-20-2005, 06:54 PM

Congratulations Sarah!!!

ChunkyC

07-20-2005, 07:34 PM

Congrats, Sarah! http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/emoteClap.gif

Wow, what a finish! William, you were brilliant throughout. And the finalists were as good a group of writers as I think you'll find anywhere.

Jenna, this has been great. We endured glitches that would have had Ryan Seacrest at a loss for words, and came out of it smilin' all the way. Thank goodness the new Harry Potter book just came out, otherwise I would have nothing to read this weekend!

Simran

07-20-2005, 08:01 PM

WOW Congrats to both Sarah and William. You are both amazing writers. As was said, I'm sure it was a very close race to the finish. :Clap: All the best to you.

Jenna, when is the next competition starting?

triceretops

07-20-2005, 08:08 PM

Congrats to the both of you! This one was a tough decision.

Tri

mudflat_marsh_hawk

07-20-2005, 09:42 PM

Congratulations to both of you!

:Clap: :Clap: :Clap:
:banana:

AprilBoo

07-20-2005, 11:10 PM

Congrats! Both of you submitted stellar work.

Cassie88

07-21-2005, 12:38 AM

Congrats to you Sarah! And congrats to William! I have enjoyed every minute of it... Incredible work produced with a ticking clock in the background. Thanks to you Jenna for running a classy contest! And thanks to Melina for counting the votes! Absolutely amazing work from everybody! I'm going to miss all of it.

Cabria

07-21-2005, 12:42 AM

Congratulations Sarah! And congratulations Will! Superb writing by both of you!!

Deb :Clap: :Clap:

Susie

07-21-2005, 01:26 AM

Roses R red
Violets R blue.
Many congrats! Sarah!!!
Very good for you!

William, congrats too. We know we'll hear great things from the both of you. Yep, and a very special thanks to Jenna and all who were involved in the great contest.

SeanDSchaffer

07-21-2005, 03:57 AM

Sarah, congratulations!

:)

Elincoln

07-21-2005, 07:02 AM

WAY TO GO!!!!

That was amazing. I hope to continue reading your wonderful work in the future.

Williams, you did such a cool job and you deserve a big round of applause for entertaining us week after week.

Congrats to you both!

LieselGarmach

07-21-2005, 08:58 AM

Throughout the entire competition, I wanted there to be a tie, and I suspected early on who one of the finalists would be. Felt good to be right, but continued to vote for the writing each week vs the writer.

Congrats, Sarah. You've done well and have earned this.

William, thank you. In reading your entries each week I've learned something new stylistically. Well done.

I'm looking forward to seeing more from all of the finalists in the future!

Kim Gogo

07-21-2005, 09:18 AM

It was a tough competition, for the writers, as well as the judges and readers. There were weeks when I didn't want to choose only one winner. Both Sarah and William have a talent that is entertaining, soul-satisfying and awe-inspiring. There were many writers in this competition who will go far. I was glad to witness the whole event. It's great to see so many writers following their dreams. I consider myself blessed to have finally joined your ranks and began on the same path.

kim

Alphabet

07-21-2005, 10:43 PM

Congratulations Sarah!

Thanks to all the contestants for taking the competition seriously enough to make it into a serious competition...and a seriously good read for all the voters.

I doubt you've only shown the world what you can do, but most likely also shown yourselves what you are truly capable of. All I can say is none of you should let this be the end of the path you've embarked on.

Really this is where someone ought to be bringing on a huge bouquet of flowers for the organisers... are virtual flowers virtually the same?

SueB

07-21-2005, 11:04 PM

Congratulations to Sarah!
[I]Congratulations to William![/B]
I too picked the two of you as the finalists, right from the beginning!
I'm sure this contest has helped get your juices flowing--now just don't take a vacation from writing. Godspeed on your journey and may it take you to a truly enchanted land.

Yeshanu

07-21-2005, 11:31 PM

http://bestsmileys.com/fireworks/9.gif

Way to go, both of you! I enjoyed reading both of your entries every week. This last round was a really hard decision.

Azure Skye

07-22-2005, 12:55 AM

Congratulations to the both of you for writing some magnificent stuff.

AncientEagle

07-22-2005, 05:13 AM

Reference all the above: ditto.

NancyMehl

07-22-2005, 06:07 AM

To be honest, I almost didn't vote at all. Both entries were so good, I wavered back and forth several times. At one point, I gave up. But Jenna's threats frightened me, so I finally voted! LOL!

I was too busy to enter the contest, but after reading the entries, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to go up against the talent displayed here.

Top notch! I'm very impressed.

Nancy

AmyBA

07-22-2005, 07:59 AM

Congrats Sarah!

You both are such great writers, I had to come back and read the final entries more than once... you really made it tough to choose! I look forward to reading more work from both of you in the future and wish you both the best of luck!

JennaGlatzer

07-22-2005, 08:10 AM

But Jenna's threats frightened me, so I finally voted!

WAHOO! Thank you, Nancy. I never get to frighten anyone. I'm going off to practice baring my teeth.

aka eraser

07-22-2005, 09:09 PM

Congrats to you both. There were no losers here and we readers were the big winners. :)

firehorse

07-23-2005, 12:00 AM

:Hug2: :heart: :Hug2: :heart: :Hug2: :heart: :Hug2: :heart:

Thanks for all the kind words! I have not disappeared off the face of the planet - or even from AW - but am just *swamped* with work. Such is the freelance life - when it rains, it pours. So THANK YOU again, and congratulations to all the finalists. I can't wait to read everyone's books!

JerseyGirl1962

07-25-2005, 11:09 PM

Dag - I missed this, too. Last week was stressful to the max (even though I did manage to post a couple of times...on other threads, lol).

It was a toss up for me, too, but I did vote in the final - so congrats to both Sarah and William! Way to go! :Jump:
~Nancy