It's time to announce the winners of the July story contest!

We had a lot of great entries this time around. I want to make sure every last author who wrote for the contest knows just how much I appreciate their hard work. It's the stories that keep a site like BCTS alive, and without your dedication and effort none of us would have this wonderful place to call home.

Now, on to our entries! We had 15 wonderful stories officially entered for the contest as well as a couple of "unofficial" ones as well. Chalk that up to a total of let's say 17 stories total, shall we? Given I have a generous co-donator this time 'round that makes for a grand total of 34 dollars going to the site's coffers before the prizes are even doled out, hooray! And all thanks to the following tremendous people:

Dorothy Colleen
Melanie Brown
Efindumb
Emma P
Donna T
Leslie Moore
Nuuan
Bronwen Welsh
CrazyPaganGurl
Ray Drouillard
Samantha MD
Karen Lockhart
Jennifer Sue
Elle Jay

Give 'em all a big hand, please!

Unfortunately, this being a contest and all, prizes can only go to a couple of our entries. Of our 15 entries only 14 qualified for voting (since one author entered twice; I'm counting it for the donation total but only the highest voted story gets considered for prize calculations.) We had a lot of really highly-voted stories this time around too! Of all the stories we received, though, the two highest voted total were:

"Mouse," by Leslie Moore, at 231 votes

"Staycation - Hacked Off?," by Samantha MD, at 226 votes

Congratulations, authoresses! I get paid on Thursday, so (unless something goes horribly wrong) I will be delivering your prizes the following Friday or Saturday. Prizes are being awarded as 3 month Hatbox subscriptions, giving you access to a world of premium stories right here!

Another big thanks to everyone who participated. Every one of you, whether as a reader, voter, or a writer, has helped to make our site what it is today.

Tune in next weekend for the announcement of September's contest!

Melanie E.