The writing contest is now closed for entries. We’re amazed to have had 62 authors submit 120 stories, with a total of over 490 thousand words. Even more impressive is that eight of the authors posted their first story to BC. Several more posted their first stories in years.
We will announce the awards on or around the 26th of this month, at which point you’ll find out which stories had the highest combined scores from Jill and me. But of course, while we have been diligent in applying our own criteria, this will still represent just two people’s views. There were so many fantastic stories, and other judges would almost certainly make different selections. Therefore . . . .
Now is your opportunity to express your opinion and possibly win $50. In a comment to this blog, please list your top three stories – and why you think they should win contest awards. It won’t affect Jill’s score or mine, but it’s a chance for you to show your appreciation for the stories you liked the best.
Each person who posts a qualified comment to this blog will be entered into a drawing to win $50. What’s “qualified,” you ask? Here are the requirements:
• No negative comments are allowed.
• Each person may post their choices once.
• If you list more than three stories, you will be disqualified for the $50 drawing.
• Entries must be submitted by February 22, 2024.
For your reference, the list that follows includes links to all the contest stories, as well as links to each author’s page so you can easily find more stories by your favorites!
Judge now . . . or forever hold your peace!
~o~O~o~
Qualified Contest Stories
New Years’ Revolutions
Convergence
Resolution Revelations
The Promise
Be True to Myself
0300Z Defense HQ New Year Resolution
Contest Resolution
A New Year’s Transformation
Charlie
Zuleika
No More Girls
New Year Resolutions, Broken and Kept
False Alarm
Fine Tuning
First Flight
Gooseberry
Icebreaker
Out With the Old
Prodigal Son
Reading the Room
Vanishing Point
Working Break
Image Resolution
Fifty and Out
Trust Machines - New Year's Revolution
Night Shift
Resolution Evaluation
It's Okay
Ghost Town
Last Wish
Blue Silk
It All Started With my Family
Hereby Highly
Highs and Lows
Turnaround
ALIVE Queer Cafe
A Real Man
Allison’s Androphobia
I Will Confess!
Lovey Dovey Assassins
The Three P’s
The Worst Day
A Life for My Child
Nathan, Maybe. Who Knows?
Crossroads
EnTWINed
Beauty and the Beast
Love Never Dies
Abbie’s Big Sister
Resolution Revolution
Sofia & Lacey’s for a New Universe
Annie’s Story
A New Year’s Reconciliation
Finding Joy
How I Decided It Was Time to Come Out to the World
An Imp Has Her Fun
Living Your Life
Go Big or Go Homeless
Bookends
My Promise to You
Second Star to the Right
That Damned Rodent
The Old Man
Through the Looking Glass Darkly
Yes Ma’am
Your Promise to Me
Marriage Counseling
Who Am I?
Labrys’s Egg: An Electrical Fairy Tale Under Ground
View From a Bridge
At the Midnight Hour
Catching Up
Late Christmas
Like It’s Your Last
One Last Hail Mary
Snowed In
Still Time
The Long Route Home
To the Bridge
Treehouse
Trust Your Gut?
High Resolution
Displaced for New Years
Do Constructs Dream of Electric Sheep?
Girl Park New Years
Once Upon a New Year
Happenstance
Marking Your Card
Due for a Change: A New Year’s Resolution Short Story
That Urge to Purge
How a Resolution Saved a Life
Great Aunt Frances
Countdown to Confidence
Can You Believe We Did That?
Intentions Path
Means to an End
New Years Trans
Someone I Can Believe In
With Every Heartbeat
A Change of Plans
A Favor for a Friend
The Simple Life
Cookie’s Resolve
What Is Truth?
Just Another Midnight at the Chapel
Perpendicular Time
Boys’ Night Out
Kissing Cousins
The Boat That Frocked
A New Year’s Promise
Why is the Robotic Weasel on Fire?
Hogmanay
My Hero
Scrummy New Year
A Resolution—Of Sorts
Cosmic Loophole
The Perfect Makeover
The Gray Knight
Finding My Muse
New Year, New Perspective
~o~O~o~
Contest-Inspired, But Not Qualified
Bro Faks
Is There a “T” in Team?
Silencing the Storm
For Us, the Living
Resolving Reese
Brian’s New Year’s Resolution
At the Kajabbi Pub
A New Year for Mischief
‘Til You Make It
Family Ties
Learning the Hard Way
False Start
Comments
Good Picks
I agree that all of these stories fit the description you applied to them.
However, you must not have read Fifty and Out, which set a record for charm. I thought your story was exceptional.
I'm sure you're having some fun with Emma and me, but some others might not understand. Neither of us took into consideration whether the story was written in first or third person.
Emma and I have exchanged scores and we scored very close on the vast majority of scores. My scores reflected my bias toward a strong plot and hers reflected a bias for strong characters. Other than that, our scoring was based largely along the same lines as yours.
Please keep in mind when the actual results are posted that the actual difference in scoring between the top story and the next over twenty stories was quite small.
I'm very pleased with what we intend to announce and I hope the community is just as delighted.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Just a little fun
In all seriousness (is that a word?), we have an abundance of good writers on this site. But beyond that, we have people that CARE! You ladies inspire me.
Thank you again for all you (plural you) do! :DD TAF
DeeDee
Three Choices...
Ran out of time on my re-read, so this will be short -- not that I have much to say here. It's easier for me to explain why a story doesn't work for me than to rave over the good ones.
Have to thank all the authors who posted stories here, and the contest organizers for making this possible.
1. Jenny Walker, "Love Never Dies" - Top quality writing, Neat plot. Great situation, really effectively introduced. Ended on a great note.
2. Steph C - "First Flight" - I ranked this one and "Vanishing Point" the next best two stories, but of course only one per author. Anyway, John may be the most memorable character here; then again, I tend to be particularly sensitive and sympathetic toward autistic characters, and this one was drawn remarkably well. The story does a really good job setting up the situation and getting Tilly on track. Steph's characterizations are as strong as always,
Almost came down to rolling a D6 with the next three stories, and two others narrowly missed out beyond that. Finally went with
Magicshoppe's "Who Am I", after deciding that I'd gotten overly swayed by the San Francisco setting of Mona Lisa's "Happenstance". (Kimberly Read's "Annie's Story" was the third of the group.)
Getting to the point, "Who Am I" set up an intriguing -- even unique -- situation remarkably well and unraveled it nicely. Great conversations.
I think I had sixteen honorable mentions before losing track. There were more than 20 stories that I'd find unsurprising if they were one of the winners, and I kudosed all but four of the whole pack.
Thanks again, everyone.
Eric
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