short story contest I posted last week with the prompt of “bark.” The entries were all remarkable and I am so impressed with the beauty, emotion, humor and irony conveyed in so many of these stories. I received a total of 44 entries, and every single one had merit!Thank you so much to everyone who participated in and supported the #fiftywords
(Image credit: Original image by pixel2013, Pixabay)
This was the first official contest I have organized. I’ve always wondered how contest judges managed to choose among multiple excellent entries, and it is even harder than I thought. I will forevermore be mindful of their challenges.
I’ll start by sharing a little about the review and judging process. (Even though I know you’re skipping to the end right now, you cheater! Ha ha.)
The contest judging process
First, I put all of the entries in a spreadsheet and checked each of them for the contest rules. Did the entrant resteem, and upvote to support the contest? Did the entrant have the rights to the image and credit it properly? Almost all entrants followed all rules! (But yes, I was able to weed out a few. Hey, I had to start somewhere!)
Next, I looked at all the entries with the “extra credit” items in mind. Did the story have an attention-grabbing title? Was the writing high quality and grammatically correct? Did the writer read and comment on other contest entries? (Whew! I was able to weed out a few more.)
Now it was time to choose a winner. I was down to 30 entries, all of which were beautifully done, had followed all the rules, and taken the additional steps in the extra credit. Choosing a winner is, of course, the most challenging part of the judging process, because it is unfortunately subjective! In choosing a winner, I looked for an entry that was truly sublime -- a piece of writing that made every word count in a beautiful and poignant way, that made me want to read the story more than once to truly savor it, and that gave me that feeling that this little 50-word vignette is part of a complete world, like the best-told full-length stories.
Read on!
Honorable mentions
There were so many great entries, that I just had to choose a few from the final round to mention here, as they are so interesting, suspenseful, poignant (sometime heart-wrenching) or thought-provoking. We had stories of dog rescues, dogs in heaven, and beautiful and sad carvings in trees. The genres spanned the gamut from humor writing to fantasy, science fiction, historic fiction, literary writing and love stories. There were stories with morals, puns, and irony. In other words, it was all phenomenal reading.
The following are just a few of the most awesome posts that survived the cuts, grabbed my attention, and made me want to see more work from that writer. (But there were so many more!)
For each one, I’ve listed one of its salient qualities:
Clever: Stumps, by @ilt-yodith
Poetic: A Lonely Sound, by @negativer
Funny: The Postman’s Rebuttal, by @brandonsadventur
Suspenseful: FreedomBARK: The Escape, by @marie-jay and , by @wilfredn
Poignant: A Bark Was not Enough, by @agmoore
Eerie: Walmart at 3 AM, by @caleblailmusik
Thought-provoking: The Lunar FallThe Hive, by @prydefoltz, and , by @naquoya
Best sci fi: Automaton Oligarchy, by @aksounder
Best historic fiction: For Science, by @damianjayclay
Best horror: Griff, by @felt.buzz
Best poem: Curse of the Bark, by @momzillanc
Most powerful message: Forever, by @adigitalife
Best hug-a-tree story: The Magic of Nature, by @therosepatch
Unique use of “bark”: A Prehistoric Walk In the Park, by @creatr
Intriguing: Dogs Still Bark In Heaven, by @ldacey-laforge
At last -- the winning story!
Benji's Bark!Congratulations to @alheath for the winning entry,
This beautiful little piece of micro-fiction has it all. It sets a mood. It puts the reader solidly in a place. It has rich imagery that makes us see and feel that something really intense is going on. And it leaves us wanting more. All in 50 words. Nice job, @alheath!
Thank you again, everyone! This has been an amazing journey.
Will I run this contest again? Yes! I will put up a new contest post, so stay tuned! @miniature-tiger, please let me know when you want to take back #fiftywords. I am just keeping some kindling on the fire you started!
Thanks for the fun Jayna. Great summary post you've made here; I enjoyed reading all your special selections and the winning piece. Looking forward to next time.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed the process, @aksounder. I really enjoyed your sci-fi piece!
Great story you chose. I have only just read it, and I don't envy you having to select from that list. But you chose well in the end. Looking forward to the next instalment. Thanks for your dedication to this @jayna.
Thanks @naquoya. I am truly stunned by the amazing work that came out of this.
Hey, @jayna,
Thank you for an engaging contest and for the honorable mention... :D
😄😇😄
I'm so glad you participated. Thank you for jumping in. (And for the nice goody you gave me, you sweetheart!)
You're welcome! :D
Congratulations @alheath! Truly deserving. And big thanks to @jayna for organizing this contest! I had never heard of fifty-word stories before and probably would never have even tried to write one if not for this contest.
LOL, I cheated and then scrolled back up afterwards. You were very thorough in your judging process and I certainly don't envy your task. There were so many good entries with such a wide variety of themes. But I think you did an excellent job and picked the right winner.
Thank you! It was definitely a challenge. I'm scheming right now about how to keep this rolling. I think it was a lot of fun for all of us. Thanks for being a part of it!
Congratulations @alheath for the win! I really wouldn't have had wanted to choose, I think I read everybody's story, and they were soooooo good. Thanks @jayna for the mention! I look forward to the next challenge... :)
micro fiction contest - with SBD prizes - too""In the meantime, everyone," he says whispering, so @Jayna doesn't hear him hijacking her post. "Don't forget I run a
You're so funny. Thank you for participating. And I did promise I would check out your micro fiction contest, didn't I? Hmm... that gives me an idea.
I imagine you have been a little bit busy!!! ;)
Congrats @alheath for the winning entry! Great story! Also, thank you again to @jayna for keeping the flame alive and for the honorable mention. This was a fun one, and I'm looking forward to seeing the next topic.
Oh my gosh, you did great with that prompt. I'm looking forward to the next one! (The engine is revving even now!)
Yay congrats @alheath! And well done to everyone else! Thank you, @jayna, for keeping the fire lit. These are so much fun to do!
I love them too! I will rev my engine and do it again!
Lovely post @jayna; you do a really great job with this!
It's really useful to see the stories listed out too - I look forward to reading them!
Oh I hope you do! They are amazing!
Thanks so much, @miniature-tiger. Are you ready to take back ownership of your #fiftywords challenge? 😊
I am genuinely shocked. There were so many good entries. Thank you and well done to everyone who took part.
It definitely was not easy to pick a winning entry! But in the end your piece shone through, with its excellent setting, characters, action, and mood. Great job!
Gratz @alheath !
Thanks for running the contest, Jayna. It was fun.
I'm so glad you had fun with it. And very nice entry!!
Excellent work by @alheath. I hadn't read that story. It is indeed worthy.
Great work by you as well @jayna, in organizing this. I like how you grouped individual 'winners' on various salient points, thus expanding the prize pool of pride out a bit.
Thanks for the mention in poetic!
everyone feels appreciated for their artistry, it's super fun.Thanks, @negativer! I'm pretty sure running contests will give me an ulcer. But when I'm not struggling with decision-making and how to make sure
Thanks for making this contest Jayna. Was fun. :)
I’m honored my “Curse in the Bark” made the list. Thank you for running the contest.
It’s very clever. I got such a kick out of that piece! Have you been Writing for quite a long time?
Congrats everyone, and especially @alheath! Glad you appreciated the eerieness of mine @jayna :P
Yes, I loved it!!
@jayna? What have I told you about the over-flattery stuff?
Ha ha! I can’t help it. You’re a talented writer. You’re just very modest.
Have you seen my booty shorts?? Nah, I ain't modest :P
JKJK
Forreal though, I was raised this way, SON. I appreciate your appreciating my writing, but just know that I can be better, so I don't (always) deserve all your flattery, as wonderful as it is :P
I can't think about writing now. Instead I'm trying to un-see the booty shorts.
Ha! That was my plan all along! Now I can rule the Blockchain (MWAHAHAHA!!!).
Thank you for running the contest, and for the acknowledgment. Limiting myself to fifty words was great fun!