WINNERS! Writing for Kids Winter Contest

Congratulations, everyone!

congratulations!

Congratulations! Woot woot!

Good job you guys!!!

Please shoot me a PM, Krashnburn, so we can make arrangements for sending your prize

Woot! It was fun guys!

I voted for 2 of those winners but my #1 pick didn't place (The Bog Of Enternal Stench. Loved that one!!)

Congratulations to krashnburn and Wendy, and to everyone who took a chance and entered.

I'll claim Scoville's Sport. What a fun bunch of stories!

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*deep breath*
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Thank you soooooooooooooooo much for holding the contest and letting me participate and for voting for me!! I really enjoyed writing that one.

There were so many great entries. Good job everyone!

Wow. I'm like totally flushed and I do admit I just did a little dance alone in my living room and the dog thinks I'm nuts...

Nice work, Sydneyd! You had my vote. Mine was Fireworks. As a relative newbie, I'm so glad I decided to go for it and enter; I had a great time both writing for this contest and holding my breath for the results! (Also, I didn't vote for The Rematch, but only because I had a feeling right away that it would win!)

Mine's was 'The Accused'. Great competition, it was fun. Although, I'll be honest here: my heart sank as I read the entries, because they were really good. So, which one was it that someone said they didn't think it was really kidlit?

Deepthought said:

Mine's was 'The Accused'. Great competition, it was fun. Although, I'll be honest here: my heart sank as I read the entries, because they were really good. So, which one was it that someone said they didn't think it was really kidlit?

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I was afraid it was mine. But I guess there are a few candidates.

Congratulations guys - I'm pleased to see two of my picks are up in the heights.

My other selection was On Death's Door... simply because a little voice inside me called out saying that one would be the one I'd want to read the most back when I was a kid.

But again, it was really hard to choose. ><

I'm claiming The Bog of Eternal Stench. My first public sharing of something - thanks for the kick up the bottom and the awesome contest Smish!

Big congratulations to the winners! This comp was a lot of fun and I'm looking forwards to the next one
Many thanks Smish!
Mine was Giant Joe Warms Up, thanks to the kind peeps who sent some votes my way

Congrats to the winners! Two of my picks in there, but I would have definitely voted for the other one too, if I'd had four votes! Well done, everybody who entered!

Congratulations to all the winners! I didn't vote for any, sadly, because although they were in my shortlist this was all, of course, very subjective, and I just had to choose the ones I'd love to read more of or just vibed with my twisted mind. Not that you needed my help, lol - well done again!

Sydneyd said:

I'll claim Scoville's Sport. What a fun bunch of stories!

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That was a great, fun, weird surreal sorry and only JUST missed my top three (as in, it was a surefire 4)!

Ramshackle said:

My other selection was On Death's Door... simply because a little voice inside me called out saying that one would be the one I'd want to read the most back when I was a kid.

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That one was my #3 for the EXACT same reason. I'm a huge fan of paranormal and dark modern fantasy, so I'd love to read more of this, maybe even beta/writer-buddy up with this one if there's more.

Ramshackle said:

I'm claiming The Bog of Eternal Stench. My first public sharing of something - thanks for the kick up the bottom and the awesome contest Smish!

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This was my #2! I just loved everything about it, the way it read, the themes, setting, ingenuity, the creatures... Definitely hope there's a full novel coming.

Heck, since I've listed the other two I might as well say that I voted the dark and sinister IAM as my #1... I read it with a dreadful suspicion of what was going on in that terrible tower block, and when the mother confirmed my fears it sent chills down my spine. Wasn't expecting something like this in a kidlit contest, but glad it was.

I'm going to put my hand up shamefully and admit that "Joel and Filer, Demon Imp" was mine. I'd expressed concerns with Smish that it might not work if people remembered my thread asking if an MG novel with (mistaken) suicide and Hell would work but ended up subbing it anyways because - try as I might - I just couldn't write a more expressive piece about heat than that at the time. But like I said before, my heart sank reading through the other entries, as I knew I'd been thoroughly thrashed... And I was right, scoring a lowly 2 (for the second contest running! )

Note to self: stop entering chapter excerpts, they really don't work for you in this contest. Either that, or give up writing entirely and become a rapper for the deaf called MC Krazy Hands xD

Congrats once again to all winners and entrants! It was fun.

Dave

I thought many of the stories had real potential but maybe needed a little work or a slightly longer word count in order to fill out the story better (mine included).

Four that ended up on my short list: Secret Identity, The Bog of Eternal Stench, Capture the Fire Blossom, and The Curse of the Secret Room. If the writer of any of these stories would like a further short critique, let me know.

Congratulations to the winnahs! There were some really wonderful things to choose among.

My taste is clearly a bit off the track here. My own story didn't do as well as my previous entry, at all. But I knew it might not overcome its quirks. I had a blast writing it, however. "Bring the Heat: How Trees Came Into the World" is my own.

And I voted for it, too. My other two votes went to The Ohio, because I loved the mythic surprise and thought it was very smoothly done, and to Giant Joe Warms Up because as a poem it had no false notes I could find.

The main thing, though, is this contest got me writing again during a bad slump, and that's priceless. I know nothing about writing for kids except memories of what I liked as a kid, and knowing what my inner kids likes now. And that this is a fun place to hang out.

Smish, thank you so much for doing these.

Congrats to the winners, and well done to all who took part. And thanks to Smish for all her hard work.

Congrats, krashnburn, alleycat, and WendyN! Thanks, Smish, for doing this.

Mine was "IAM". Wrote it at 1300 words, had to cut like crazy.

Deepthought said:

Mine's was 'The Accused'. Great competition, it was fun. Although, I'll be honest here: my heart sank as I read the entries, because they were really good. So, which one was it that someone said they didn't think it was really kidlit?

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Smish, is it okay to answer this here, or better done via pm?

Yay! Thanks everyone for the votes and congrats to krashnburn & alleycat! You guys all made it really hard for me to narrow down my choices!