As one of those judges, I can tell you that narrowing the mountain of submissions down to just 32 was not an easy chore AT ALL! One judge commented that they now understood what it’s like to be an agent reading through the slush pile. When I made the changes to the contest this year, not providing everybody a chance to compete in the ring was the one area I struggled with the most, but WRiTE CLUBS popularity was its own worst enemy and necessitated the change. For those of you who submitted an entry but did not make the final list…I’m sorry. There were many, many, quality pieces that were so close, but the line had to be drawn somewhere. Almost every single submission received at least one vote from a judge, and only a single entry garnered unanimous votes. Do not let this discourage you. Use it as fuel to hone your skills and come back next year to capture the title!
So, here are the pen names (in alphabetical order) of the 2013 WRiTE CLUB pool of contestants:
Alone
American Banshee
billy payne
BruinGirl
Camille Atwood
Dinah Annella
Dirch McGurkin
Dragon Writer
Emma T. Nestor
FMWriter
Gordon Holmes
Hollyhock
Imalie Teller
Jamie Stuart
January Jones
Joy Stique
Lauretta Stiles
Liva Humoir
Mary Ann March
Matilijas
Muleshoe
MultaPaucis
N. U. Endo
Philangelus
Ruby Red
S. King
Sing Sing
Slippery Slope
The Scribbler
Vampyr14
wideawakegirl
Word Huntress
I also want to thank the nine other members of the panel whose job it was to come up with this list. I couldn't have done it without you!
Barbara Jean Byrem
Julie Dao
Nicki Elson
Chris Fries
Mark Hough
Faith Hough
Elizabeth Seckman
Tiana Smith
Kari Marie White
As I stated previously, the first bout will be tomorrow between two randomly selected members of this list. Best of luck to all of you!
See you back here tomorrow! :)
All the best to the contestants...
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys really had a job! And knowing that every entry got at least one vote is reassuring. It also speaks well about the writing!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all the finalists...and let the games begin!
Good luck everyone!
ReplyDeleteGreat job, DL!
Looking forward to the bouts!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't feel bad about drawing the line on just thirty-two entries. Write Club would end about the time it's to begin again otherwise.
Congrats to everyone who submitted and to the finalists!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the 32 who made it.
ReplyDelete"Almost every single submission received at least one vote from a judge, and only a single entry garnered unanimous votes." <-- Crazy! Congrats to everyone who made it in! I'm glad many of my favorite submissions made the cut :) To anyone who didn't, know that your submissions were all excellent and I'm not just speaking empty words when I say it was really hard to choose. There were so many entries, across a wide range of genres, and it's hard to appeal to everyone. It kinda makes me glad that I competed the first year when it wasn't quite as popular :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the competitors, looking forward to round one tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteExciting! When it's all said and done, i'd love to hear more stats on the submissions. Like, how many were there total, etc.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all! As Alex says, if you didn't narrow it down we'd be going all year which would be fabulous but so so tiring and you deserve a break from all the work once in a while so no! 32 is perfecto. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd they are ready to rumble!!
ReplyDeleteIt was an honor to read everyone's entries - there is a CRAZY amount of talent out there and even if you did not make it into the pool, please be so proud of yourself for stepping forward and entering. It's no easy feat to share your work with others and to have it judged. This contest is gonna rock. Good luck to everyone!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the contestants who made into the WRiTE CLUB pool.
ReplyDeleteGood luck writers!
Congrats and good luck to the contestants making it into WRiTE CLUB!
ReplyDeleteA handful mention the length of time the contest takes, and having to change rules to cut the participants to 32. I was curious being each pairing lasts a week for voting, is there any reason why multiple random pairings (3-5) couldn't be featured each week?
Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink
Jak ~ I normally don't reply to comments here, but since I believe your question needs to be answered and I can't respond to you directly...here goes. Two reasons why I don't do more than two postings a week. 1) For the same reason I needed to shorten how many weeks the contest ran on, overexposure. In order to keep the interest up, a couple bouts a week is more than enough. 2) Balance. Although a lot of people flock here when WRiTE CLUB is going on, I still have a desire to post regular content. Three months is a long time to not be able to express my own opinions and offer relevant commentary. That may be selfish...but so be it. :) I hope this answers it for you.
DeleteNoted and Answered! Thank you very much for replying :) Best of luck!
DeleteCongratulations to the 32 contestants! As DL said, it was VERY HARD choosing -- I felt there wasn't a single entry that didn't deserve a chance to compete in the the WRiTE Club ring, and I would like to personally thank each of the writers who submitted a sample of their work.
ReplyDeleteAs with the bouts themselves, much of it comes down to subjective personal preference. Many of my top choices made it, but four of my top sixteen choices didn't make the cut from other judges, including one entry I had ranked at #4 overall. If your piece didn't get selected as one of the final 32, know that at least one judge likely voted for you. As for myself, I appreciated the opportunity to read your work, I enjoyed everything I read, and I strongly encourage you to keep writing!
And for the field of thirty-two combatants? Well, we''ll see you in the ring! Then, regardless of which selection judge liked your work or not, it comes down to duking it out toe-to-toe with another equally-capable writer, and throwing yourselves onto the court of public opinion.
Let the best writers emerge standing!!!
Congrats to those who made the final 32!
ReplyDeleteI found this to be a great thing for me, since it let me work more on the story kicking around in my head. And now that I've got that to work with, I'm planning on spending more time with it - so I still win!
Good luck!
Let the games begin!!! Good luck, y'all.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the contestants, and a great big thank you to DL, Mrs. DL, and the judges for volunteering their time to review the entries.
ReplyDeleteLadies and Gentlemen,
ReplyDeleteLet's get ready to Revieeeeeeeewwwww :)
Well done to all involved - especially DL, Mrs. DL :) and the Panel :)
GOOD LUCK everyone :)
Congratulations to all the 32 writers! As one of the judges, I wanted to add a note to all the competitors who didn't make it this far: writing is SO subjective. I was surprised, while looking at the list, that one of my very favorite entries, which I thought would be snapped up by all the judges, isn't there. So keep writing. Keep perfecting your work and keep sending it out to the world!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteYeah for the list of contestants, and big thanks to all the helpers who met the deadline and read like crazy.
ReplyDelete.......dhole
Good luck to everyone! :D
ReplyDeleteCongrats to those who made it!
ReplyDeleteSmall suggestion for next time around... some sort of confirmation that entries were received. Either a link to a spreadsheet with all the received pen-names on it, or a confirmation email, or something. Just so a contestant doesn't wait and wonder if the submission really made it, or was eaten alive by the mighty spam filter. Just a suggestion though.
Lenni ~ My wife did respond to every submission she recieved. She checked and she does not showing getting one from you, and she even checked her spam filter. Did you submit under a different name?
DeleteI just replied through email to this. I did submit. I sent you two screen shots as "proof". Good to know at least that I didn't make it because my entry wasn't received, not because it wasn't good enough for the cut.
DeleteJust curious-- did either of you get the reply email I mentioned in the July 11 comment? If my email isn't getting through to some people, I would like to investigate the possible cause. So far this has been the only incident which I am aware of, but it is disturbing none the less. I may need to "shoot the messenger" so to speak. ;)
Delete*eeerch!* Okay, this prelim judge is skidding in a few days late & several dollars short, but I want to say THANK YOU to every who submitted - I enjoyed reading every single one of these. It was fun to get bite-sized pieces of so many different writing styles & genres. And thank you, DL, for being so organized and giving all of these great writers an opportunity to show off their stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool that every entry got at least one vote, and I for one felt great relief that there were a bunch of other people throwing in their two cents, because it really is so subjective.
And now...let the bouts begin!
How exciting! Thank you to all the judges who spent SO MUCH time reading through all the entries. Sometimes I can barely decide between the two pieces in each bout!
ReplyDeleteLet the games begin!
After the contest is over, if you are willing, could you share which entry received unanimous votes? I'm sure that author would love to know, and for me personally it would be helpful to study a piece that received a vote from all ten judges - who I'm sure have varied tastes.
ReplyDelete