Okay, because of extenuating circumstances, I had had to add a 5th 3rd place winner slot for a total of 8 prizes: 1 x 1st Place, 2x 2nd Place, and 5 x 3rd Place. The current cash prizes are 1 x $150, 2 x $75, 5 x $25. I am going to tell you that this was so hard to narrow down. Every entry is a winner! In my book I wish I could give you all prizes just for having entered. The talent you all have exceeds what "mainstream media" calls great. I do not want to anyone to think ill of me if you did not make the top 8 prizes. Remember, I wish I had enough money to award all of you something!

We had 15 entrants, 14 authors and, originally, 7 prizes. Because of circumstances and how damn well one story was written, I couldn't just cut it off the list, so I made an extra 3rd place slot for it.
 

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The basic requirement is that the story be of Love and Win in the end or Love and Loss of that Love for Valentine's Day - (This means that the Love and Loss can be brought down to neutral friendship level or is lost entirely by any means.) I'm giving the option as I'm open to both types of stories.
 

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For our Third Place prizes each of these authors (5) gets an award in the amount of $25!
 

 

 
A complex story that fully immerses the reader in a conflict of growing up. We know its a reverse love story with April being used as a cover for Joanne but Joanne hasn't caught on. I would have loved to have seen more to finalize the state of the romance. I do realize that with the return of Anthony Riesche, Joanne's attendance at that school is ruined. The sense of ruination is what we are left with and the win of the romance was budding between Frank and Joanne. Great dialogue, Great story momentum, and a reverse surprise I was anticipating at the end (I should rephrase that, Lead to Expect :) This story needed a little bit more and had the potential to rival first place if it had!
 
 

 

 
Wow! A really strong story of a fight against hatred! Alex has a mess of a life and if it's true he got his nemesis Rachel pregnant - uuggh! This is coming off as a loss of love for Julie at the end. Hatred by Rachel, Hatred by Alex's parents - a hell of a way to end it. Very strong and potent in loss. A twist in the plot for sure as I did not see that coming until the very end. I personally did not want it to end that way but it was beautifully strung out the way the author wanted it and it worked great!
 
 

 

 
An excellent told story blending a dream from the main character to make it reality for the script for Paul's work. Loved the way you handled Phillip's change in life and thought out contribution back to Paul who was a godsend to her crisis when she most needed help Sammy! Having Phillip was dressed up to BE Wu Dip at the end was the clincher :)
 
 

 

 
An amazingly well done poem! Feeling and depth of pain were crafted within it exceedingly well! The moral of the poem is not to remake yourself for someone else. If you remake yourself, do it, because it is for you! The loss was heavy and failed. But I look at it this way - the man who was the target of her just wasn't for her. I am certain that she will still find someone to be happy with as a couple of commenters have said. Touching poem! Great Job!
 
 

 

 
A single romance stemming from a loss of Lewis's friend Tom. Honestly, until the end, I suspected Lewis, becoming Louise, would be getting together with Gemma. I was wrong! The story felt a little bit rushed at the end to me, but was a good one nevertheless!
 
 
For our Second Place prizes each of these authors (2) gets an award in the amount of $75!
 

 
 

 

 
A dual romance failure with a 3rd one for a win. I am kind of torn as to which of the three was the intended romance (win or lose). Robert's marriage failure was blatantly obvious and well described as a loss, including Trudy - Greek Tragedy. Sandra's loss of Karen, less described and was a quieter loss. Robert and Sandra's love, was the win for the story. However, because of the author's prominent placement of an epilogue of sorts for Karen at the end, I am lead to believe that perhaps Sandra's relationship with Karen was the more important of the three in the story since she had a glimpse of learning something at the end that changed her in a positive way and was not a bitch like Trudy had been. This story almost rang true to me like a Forensic Files Episode towards the end! I could just hear the narrator in my mind as the drama unfolded.
 
 

 

 
A superb story of a crossdresser's fight to be up front honest about his hobby to a potential partner. With three fails, he was skittish about revealing to anyone else ever again. But with being honest and I think both Lori and Eileen seeing that honesty within him always, knew he could be trusted. Eileen and Ron for the win :) Exceedingly well written with the right amount of connection with the character's emotions.
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 
A really well written story!! George being forced to out himself to his wife after all that time must have been painful. He hid it so they would stay together in a good way and his fear is well justified in revealing it. It could have ended his marriage. But in letting Beryl absorb just what he hid and sacrificed for her, she got to see what kind of person he was. So in buying the clothes, Beryl wanted to see George's other side and embraced it. A win win in my books :)
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 
Extraterrestrials meddling in a human relationship. I bet they do it for fun too! Alex and Chelsea both went for the win at the end despite the screwup the ET's caused. It didn't need a lot of help since they loved each other deeply from the get go :) They both suffered a loss of their current state of marriage, but it remains to be seen how they continue on from this point forth as a total win. But my question to this story is why are the ET's doing this? Why humans? BCTS X-File!
 
 

 

 
A great short story of two wounded souls coming together - one reluctant (Saga), the other one wanting (Noomi). And the choice of dinner first was the realization that their relationship would not revolve around sex only. A win win for love! This story needed just a little more character fleshing out and it would have shone so much brighter. Still, It was great short story and a win in my books!
 
 

 

 
This fairy tale came across a much more adult one. It has emanations of being MATRIX-like (The movie series) with the story restarting with each death. More like a temporary pause between parts. In my mind it felt like an AI running a controlled simulation forcing an outcome more than as a curse. Stefan/Bella was thrown into the wringer through this story. The ending was stopped at a perfect point. But I have to ask myself, did Stefan just willingly accept the transformation? I did not see nor feel any real struggle so I am running with the theory that Stefan was always a cruel woman inside until the change of heart at the end :) So Stefan's selfish love of his life as Stefan was nowhere near as fun or as meaningful as his new love as Bella and a life with Helen - the win.
 
 

 

 
This story had a dual romance. The first, Peter and Linda's marriage ended, not failed, because of Linda's death. So this counts as a loss of love. The second, Peter becoming Petra and engaging with David was a win of sorts. It's the win with a lot of heartbreak and struggle that comes with the package. I do get that the author sort of implied that being Bi or a crossdresser was not something Peter should do - Being a woman or a man were the only choices. That is just the character of Peter, a mindset - one or the other. I just want to say that its okay to be whatever :) Either you click with another or don't. Peter was struggling as Petra learning the curve of trying to be what she wanted all along. But that just sort of eats at me because it brings up the ultimate question of the story - What was more important? Did Petra love being who she was more than her marriage to Linda as Peter?
 
 

 

 
A poem to boot! A nice swift story. The maiden got her love win in and left with her princely creation so that everyone became happy thereafter! :)
 
 

 

 
A very sweet, well written dual win love story! Lief had to find a new way to live after his loss, and the old Pellinore chased after the being he loved! A very different and good feeling story. Well Told!
 
 

 

 
An excellent loss and win story! Michael lost his former life but wasn't really all put out by it. By "becoming" Karen complete with a baby inside is something Michael himself said he would do without hesitation to save the baby. And by being so considerate as to include men in the foundation, the lgbt ones, showed a more caring heart. I consider this a double win for Michael, now Karen, as she is able to to be in a position to do something about the issue. The romance was of "Michael's" life before the loss of Karen. Where Michael's new life as Karen leads her, the story is at an excellent stop place for the reader to imagine.
 
 
I really love doing these contests to see the talent all of authors can produce. The amount of money spent for the Christmas contest took me 3 months of pay. I truly wish I had the money, and I know that I keep saying this, but I really want to - pay everyone as I believe you all WON!

I hope everyone sent me a pm stating your paypal addy or mailing addy for the winnings.

Thank you for the great contest and keep writing!

Sephrena