Contest results thread!

[Monk]

Over one month ago we first posted here about the .Org Spring Writing Contest, and after much work (bloodshed) and arguments (threats) The judges have chosen a winner!

Winner: scottishranger, Green Grass on the Eastern Front.
Runner-up: Aenarion, The Rundjörn.

Both can be read again here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=101015), along with the other entries as well. It's been said before, and it might be cliche but I really mean it. We had a hard time picking out two winners for this contest because there were some really good entries in this season's contest. In the end, however, there could be only one (two, really, but then my highlander reference doesn't work!) Both members will soon be awarded the literary badge as recognition of their victory in the contest. Congratulations!

Once again let me thank everyone who participated in our event or gave us support. We'll be hosting much more activities similar to this contest soon, so keep an eye out around here!

[Tamur]

Congrats to scottishranger and Aenarion! It was indeed a close-fought battle -- some great writing and fascinating ideas to choose from. I do wish there were a participants' badge as well to give away. Thanks for the fun reads all!

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Congrats All!! Wasv ery Fun indeed :-)

[Aenarion]

Wow this is amazing! Thanks to all the judges! And thanks for all your comments!
Thanks, :bow:
Aenarion

[scottishranger]

Honestly didnt expect to win. Great writing to everyone.

Thanks to all of the judges for starting this, it was alot of fun.

[Agent Miles]

Good job! Congratulations all around.

[Aenarion]

Forgot to mention ... I've read all entries and all were indeed wonderful! :2thumbsup: Congratz to you aswell scottishranger!:yes:

[Ironsword]

Well done chaps!

Good stories, hopefully there will be many more!

[Ludens]

Congratulations guys!
~:thumb:

[pevergreen]

So who wrote that anonymos one?

[Monk]

So who wrote that anonymos one?

It was submitted Anonymously (literally, i couldn't say if i wanted), the person said they just wanted to use the contest to experiment with writing again and I honored that. I couldn't really deny the request as the entry didn't break any rules, besides s/he seemed rather happy with their work so in that sense who was I to even try to deny them? :beam:

Edit: Though I am considering a new rule for the next contest that deals with anonymous submissions. We'll see. It wasn't an issue this go around. ~D

[Henry707]

Permission to speak frankly. I did enjoy reading through the stories but my word some of them were depressing. Would I be alone if I asked for a bit more a spark & less teenage angst?

I hope this doesn't sound negative as I found the standard overall very high, just be good to get away from death, drugs, hopelessness etc.

What do you all think?

Henri

[Tamur]

Everyone is of course free to explore what's interesting to them. But from a writing standpoint, starting a story with misery and ending it with misery is like using black ink to draw on black paper.

And, as with an entirely black picture, it's hard for the reader to see anything but the lack of form, shape, etc. The story wallops the reader over the head with the point that the main character is miserable, but little else can make its way through. Also, there's a law against walloping readers with anything (except for camels, of course).

The same goes for happy-happy bunny stories. White on white doesn't make for terribly interesting reading either. As with so many things in life, drawing from both extremes as needed is a good place to be.