So in order to pay our current entrants, which at this time is 17 authors, it is necessary for me to close the submissions now so that the prize monies can be awarded. I did not feel that doing a normal voting contest for Christmas this time would be conducive for the health of our site because in the past, there have been some misgivings about it. We also have some new authors too that entered for the first time. So, I want everyone to WIN.

I was going to hold this off as a surprise until the very end, but the sheer number of entries kept coming in and has now hit the point I cannot pay past. I truly mean it when I said everyone who enters is a winner. And we of the site are also winners to read such top notch writing anywhere on the Internet.