Sorry people! I know the delay has been problematic, but at last I'm ready to reveal the results of our Double Dip Story Contest!

Whoo boy! Okay, so first off, not doing THAT again. The whole "two contests" thing sounds like fun in theory, but it's far more troublesome than I think it was worth, especially given the resounding preference for the "Song" portion of the contest over the "Stage" side of things. In total during my sorting of stories I only found 5 of the 18 entries that seemed to target "Stage" primarily, and the voting results show that, with with the top 4 stories in terms of votes all being part of the "Song" portion. Having said all that, we had some incredibly good entries this time around too: everyone put in their best effort, and the result is a handful of stories that went as far as to make me cry tears of happiness reading them.

Now, on with the results!

*SONG*

As I said before, the top 4 stories in terms of votes were ALL from the "Song" subcategory, and the top five were as follows:

5th: Corey's Last Concert by Eric
4th: Blue Light Yokohama by Melanie Brown
3rd: I'm Still Standing by Jennifer Sue
Runner Up: Hidden Talent by SamanthaMD

There were less than 3 votes separating our runner up in this subcategory from our victor, with BOTH stories gathering nearly 300 votes each (and both being new favorites of yours truly.) Despite that, there is only one award being given in "Song," and that goes to:

Winner: I'm Not Leesa by Sigh

Congratulations!

Now, without catching a breath let's move on to the next category shall we?

*Stage*

Given that there were only 5 entries total that qualified for the "Stage" portion of the competition, barely over a quarter of the total entries made, I'll list them all here for your consideration:

5th: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road by Jessica C
4th: Over the Rainbow- . . . And Dance by Maeryn Lamonte
3rd: Two Auditions and a Fairy by Frances Penwiddy
Runner Up: It's Curtains for Me by Dorothy Colleen

Our winner came in in both categories, but only took top marks on this side (which isn't a bad thing since you could only win one anyhow!) And that winner is . . .

Winner: Petticoat Acres by Jennifer Sue

Woo! Yay! Congrats!

To both Jennifer Sue and Sigh: your prizes will be delivered this coming weekend, a 3 month sub to the Hatbox for each of you! Win or not, though, a big thanks goes out to everyone who participated in the contest. Every story here helps to provide incentive to readers, new and old, to be a part of our community and contribute to the site.

On a special note, we had three authors put in the extra effort to enter both categories this time around.

Maeryn Lamonte
Jennifer Sue
Dorothy Colleen

Thank you, ladies, for going above and beyond the call with your stories! *hugs*

Unfortunately, at this point I DO have to close our celebrations with a bit less happy announcement, and that being that I'm going to have to postpone my planned November contest for the time being. Between Medical Stuff and general Life, finances are time are both a bit tight at the moment, and I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to dedicate the time to the contest needed to run it properly (much like what happened this time around, only I imagine worse given how busy the next couple months will be.) As a result, look for my next contest most likely in January, when things have slowed down a bit.

Thank you everyone!

Melanie E.