Contest Results: Holiday Scandal - Reindeer Revolt and Other Untrue Tales

thewritersblock (64)in #fiction • 5 years ago (edited)

(Image courtesy of Pixabay)

The Writers' Block Holiday Contest Results

The magic and insanity of the holidays have long since faded. Trees still sprinkled with tinsel have been left on curbsides or cut up for firewood. The reindeer have all left for the North Pole, tired and bedraggled.

But wait. There is one last vestige of the holiday season left to savor. The results of The Writers' Block Holiday Contest.

Our excuse for the delay in reporting results is legit. We are caught up in the many details of creating our publishing house and literary journal, and preparing our first novel for publication. The behind-the-scenes activity is not unlike the chaos of Santa's workshop as the elves prepare for the next big holiday. (See A New Kind of Publishing Ecosystem for the latest updates.)

On to the results!

Three brave writers took on our challenge, which was to write a story "with a heaping measure of comedy, something that will make people laugh out loud," and to make the story accessible and relevant to all readers, whether or not they celebrate Christmas. A tall order. (It's perhaps no wonder only three writers took us up on this!)

@caleblailmusik wrote καλές διακοπές!, a tale that has the feel of a parable, about a Greek family that has moved to the U.S. Together they must navigate the requirements of Santa Claus as they have been communicated by a child at school. It's a wonderful read that leaves you smiling. We highly recommend it.
@jayna penned A Rasmussen Family Holiday, a wild romp through an extended family's tradition of celebrating the holidays together on New Year's Day, complete with bad behaviors and a kitchen fire, as told by the event hostess. If you have ever wanted to run away to Hawaii instead of dealing with your family at the holidays, this story may resonate with you.
@tanglebranch authored Haul Out The Holly, a highly humorous tale about the rediscovery of a magical talkative creature named Holly Llama (not to be confused with her cousin Dolly), by Kendra and her Gran. It's ridiculous! And it's just what we were looking for.

Well, we've already shown our hand. @tanglebranch won the contest. In fact she received her reward of 50 SBD a while ago, and all three writers were notified. But these things are never easy. Especially with the talent we have at The Writers' Block.

As testimony to that talent, the three writers who participated in the contest all edited one another's work to help each fine tune their stories prior to submission. And on our end, it took several weeks of asking for input from several of our most talented editors to choose a winner.

Ultimately, we decided that Tangle's story best fit the spirit of the contest, and her spectacular sense of humor made the story a joy to read. Congratulations, @tanglebranch!

Stay tuned, as we have more good things coming. Thank you for your support of The Writers' Block.