First off, I want to start by congratulating every one of you who submitted entries to this contest. We started slow, but with time, I saw a determination to publish great stories here and it resulted in these wonderful works from our friends:
@Charlotte with Hear the Sound of Silence
@wakeupkitty with Peace of Mind
@hamedbkh with Behind the Shadows: The Starving Cave
One Herculean task was judging these works without bias, and I and @Hanzell soon discovered that we would need a third judge, but we discovered this too late and so we had to resort to other methods.
But first, let us see the criteria for judging:
Nice character development
Unique, interesting plot
Grammar and Spellings
Easy to follow by readers
From the criteria above, which we both had in mind, we were able to produce these three as finalists: @hamedbkh, @Charlotte, and @marblely.
This is not to say that their articles weren't without flams, but they were minimal, and what they lacked in any one of these criteria, they fulfilled in the other three.
@Eybyoung: You had a great romantic plot going there for you, but the introduction of the thriller aspect kinda ruined the story, because you were using a light tone in describing the gory parts, giving it less of an effect than it should. That weakened the plot twist that should have killed it for you.
Also, you shouldn't use the bold typeface so much, and your grammar needed some polishing. wakeupkitty recommended Grammarly to me because I was a lazy proofreader, and I think it worked out just fine.
@wakeupkitty: As always, an enjoyable read. The grammar was spot on with minimal issues, but the plot was quite complex and difficult to follow up. Some parts fitted to each other, but the seamless finish was lacking, so it felt like we were reading different stories in the end.
It was great for a story derived from random prompts, but it was quite difficult to follow up with.
And then our finalists
@hamedbkh your story was great despite how brief it was. You maintained the thriller vibe, and your grammar was about 85% good. Your only issue was that you revealed the plot twist too early as in the time where Chris was talking about his sprained ankle. That sort of made the story lose its thrill.
@marblely you had a few punctuation issues in the beginning but it all turned out right! I enjoyed your story with its drama, even though the ending was a sad and uncertain one.
@Charlotte you by far had the most superior plot of the whole contest, and the final twist was divine and sad as well. I enjoyed how you ended the story, with all the sacrifice, and in the end, it was an amazing read.
That aside, your grammar could have used some polishing, and I'll admit you were in a rush. Still, great posts.
And now the winners
Hanzell and I had a thought time judging this - a rookie mistake to have only two judges, I'll finetune this next time. But in the end, it all boiled down to these two for the first place position: @marblely and @Charlotte.
Marblely had the upper hand in the grammar, but Charlotte had a better plot. I and Hanzell were at odds as to who should take the prize (I won't reveal who was rooting for who😂😂😂).
We tried inviting another judge, but no one was up for it.
So we decided to go for the wheel of names at wheelofnames.com (which was a site I hoped I wouldn't have to use, but I guess that's life).
The lucky first place winner was:
So,
First place goes to @Charlotte
Second place goes to @marblely
Third place goes to @hamedbkh
Hanzell added 5$ worth of BCH to the Prize Pool!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 That means the overall amount to be shared is 8$ in BCH.
Remember, the sharing formula is 50% to the first place winner and 25% each to the second and third place winners. Tokens of 0.3$ in BCH will go to other participants. The prizes will be distributed when I wake up, this is 1:35 am. 😜😴
Congratulations everyone!
If you have any reviews on how we can do better at organizing the context]sts, comment below. This brings the First Stories In Series Contest to an end.
Thanks and Good Night, Or Good Morning. Which is it anyway?
Congratulations