new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Contest Winners, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 49
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Contest Winners in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Hi there!
I'm so glad you're here!
I have something of great import to discuss with you, and it really cannot wait another minute.
No, not the questionable decision to place Holiday Inflatables in your front yard... although if you do that we should probably talk... :)
And no, not the age old question of what that stuff in fruit cake really is... because darn tootin' it's no kind of fruit I could identify!
I think you can guess what it is. . .
. . . the thing that is first and foremost on all of our minds today. . .
. . . and that is. . .
. . .
. . .what our Official Holiday Elf Names should be!!!
Seriously! We're running out of time to decide!
Apparently I've got a choice of 5:
Cupcake Gingersocks
(generated by http://christmas.namegeneratorfun.com/ - random)
Cinnamon Embercrystals
(generated by http://christmas.namegeneratorfun.com/ - based on first and last name)
Elvis McJingle
(generated by http://mix108.com/if-you-were-an-elf-what-would-your-name-be-find-out-now/
Candy Sparklepants
(generated by http://965kvki.com/whats-your-elf-name-generator/
or
Sugar Candykirk
(generated by http://www.elfontheshelf.com/content/elf-name-generator
I'm torn!
I really am!
I think I have to go with either Cupcake Gingersocks or Candy Sparklepants, though... although Elvis McJingle is very appealing too! Which one do you think I should pick?
And you should go get yours! Right now! And share it in the comments! You know you want to... :) I'm all about the giving over here - I went and researched these helpful links just for you, so that you could waste a little time spend the holidays being called by your official Elf Name :) Think of it as my little holiday gift to you :)
So now, happy holidays! See you in 2016! May the force be with you etc.!
What?
You were expecting to discuss something else?
Something more important than official Elf Names? (as if there could be anything more important...!)
Oh!
Right!
I knew there was something else. . .
:)
The 5th Annual Holiday Contest!!!!
 |
| WINNERS!!! |
As always, I was thrilled to see so many wonderful stories! Really! It is amazing and inspiring, not to mention VERY entertaining! There is just so much talent out there amongst you all!
But with large entry numbers, all of high quality, come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Tuesday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another.
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For
Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole: David McMullin for
Christmas In Discomfort (also so original and creative)
Jaclyn Kruzie for
A Rockin' Christmas Wish Sam Steinfels for
Unsilent Night Melissa Bulls for
Santa's Stain (also a fun-for-kids mystery)
Heather ??? for
A Real Christmas Tree2. For
Great Kid Appeal: (not already mentioned in the finals or other categories)
Wendy Greenley for
Cookin' Up The Holiday Kid-Style Kirsten Bock
Mel The Marshmallow's Cocoa Catastrophe (also great ending!)
Gabi Snyder
Christmas With Kevin The Nanny Bot3. For
Excellence In Evoking Mood And Holiday Spirit And Tradition: Joni Klein-Higger for
Happy Festival Of Lights Shelly Bond for
Christmas Story Time! Tracey Cox for
Zippin' Around On Christmas Eve4. For
Beautiful Rendition Of The Christmas Story: Kristi Veitenheimer for
A Christmas Birth Aileen Stewart for
Huddled Around The Stable Door5. For
Most Original Setting: Anne Sawan for
The Outback Christmas Hop Lorraine Nelson for
A Very Spacey Christmas6. For
Favorite Character: Marla LeSage for spunky, resourceful, entertaining Sheila in
Holiday Heist7. For
Best-Written Original Point Of View: Julie Bergman for
The Little Burnt Latke (POV of a latke!)
Joanne Sher for
Precious Cargo (POV of the donkey who carried Mary)
8. For
Fun Story In Fewest Words: Miranda Ireland for
Christmas Party Hop (4 lines, 44 words - the overworked judges love you :))
9. For
Best Entry For Parents :) Shari Schwarz for
Rocking Beside The Christmas Tree (so sweet :))
10. For
Best Entry For Writers :) Debbie Austin for
What Happened When I First Sat Down To Write This Story (so clever and entertainingly done! - writers you will not want to miss this one!)
11. For
Fun Well-Written Animal Entries: Ashley Franklin for
Picture Perfect (dog)
Catherine Flynn for
Pouncing Around The Christmas Tree (cat)
Carol Lescinski for
Rockin' Reindeer Jo Hart for
Jungle Bell Rock (a whole menagerie :))
Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all
email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com to collect your prize, which is your choice of
one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they're about) (and if you request a paperback,
please include your snail mail address!)
For Kindle:Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
The Easy Way To Write Picture Books That Sell by Robyn Parnell OR
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Ultimate Fiction Thesaurus by Sam Stone OR
In paperback:Show & Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell, OR
The Six Senses In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Bleak To Bold Narrative by Jessica Bell OR
Adverbs And Cliches In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions Of Adverbs & Cliches Into Gourmet Imagery by Jessica Bell OR
Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR
Evoking Emotion by Angela Hunt, OR
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard
And now...
...the moment you've all been waiting for...
The announcement of the WINNERS OF THE 2015 HOLIDAY CONTEST as voted on by you!!!
rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat
DDDRRRUUUMMM RRROOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
In First Place...
Winner of the whole shebang...
who gets first choice of all the prizes...
Jennifer Reinharz
for The Hanukkah Elf!!!
Congratulations, Jennifer, on a fabulous entry that was clearly very popular!!! :)
In Second Place...
Vivian Kirkfield
for The Christmas Seed
Congratulations, Vivian!! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jennifer makes her choice.
In Third Place...
Suzy Levinson
for City Critter Christmas
Congratulations, Suzy! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jennifer and Vivian choose theirs.
In Fourth Place...
Cindy Williams Schrauben
for Jugglin' High For Pumpkin Pie
Congratulations, Cindy! You get to pick after Jennifer, Vivian, and Suzy.
In Fifth Place...
Kris Allen
for The Incident
Congratulations, Kris! You get to pick after Jennifer, Vivian, Suzy, and Cindy.
In Sixth Place...
Lisa Connors
for The Gift Of The Magpie (And Friends)
Congratulations, Lisa! I'm sure you get the idea of how the prize picking goes by now :)
In Seventh Place...
Sandy Jones
for Red Berries In The Snow
Congratulations, Sandy! You get to pick next :)
In Eighth Place... a 4-way tie!
Linda Schueler
for Randolph, Not A Reindeer
Nancy Tandon
for No Peeking!
Sheila Lynch-Afryl
for Clucking Christmas
Jen Bagan
for Ned's Christmas Wish
Congratulations, Linda, Nancy, Sheila and Jen! You get to pick after Sandy! And we'll just have to sort it out between us since you tied!
And in Twelfth Place, rounding out the top dozen of these amazing finalists and the 97 Holiday Contest Entries for 2015...
Deborah Boerema
for A New Classic?
All the winners should
email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! And for your convenience, the whole prize list is included at the bottom of this post.
Congratulations again to all our winners - it was a stiff competition!! - and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a huge round of applause and a Holiday Treat which is not fruitcake! (unless you happen to like it :))
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people's stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It's because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
As I... hmm... maybe didn't mention...?, I'm taking a little blogging break so I can spend time with my family - I've got children to fetch, cookies to bake, Christmas presents to shop for and wrap, and my sister and her family are arriving form Georgia on Monday! :) - Oh, and we're going to see the new Star Wars movie on Wednesday! So I will see you all in a couple weeks - most probably Wednesday January 6th for Would You Read It :)
So now, I want to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday filled with love, laughter, joy, and family, and a happy, healthy and successful new year! It is a pleasure and a privilege to get to spend time with you all, and I'm happy and grateful to know each and every one of you!
Looking forward to all the things we'll do in 2016!
Happy Holidays, and all best wishes for a wonderful New Year!!!
Love,
The Prizes!!! (items in color are links for more info!):
-
A Picture Book Manuscript read and critique (winner's choice of in-person, on the phone, or via email) by
Claire Dorsett, Editorial Assistant, Roaring Brook Press!!!
A bibliophile and outdoor enthusiast, Claire spent her childhood summers road-tripping across the United States, reading constantly on the long car rides between parks and museums. Her love of literature led her to pursue a BA in English from Cornell University, where she was involved with campus publications The Daily Sun and Rainy Day literary magazine. Claire then completed the six-week intensive Columbia Publishing Course before finding a home at Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, assisting VP and Publisher Simon Boughton. She has worked on a range of projects during her time at Roaring Brook, including Lane Smith's middle-grade debut Return to Augie Hobble, Steve Sheinkin's National Book Award finalist Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War, and picture books The Skunk, There is a Tribe of Kids, and Ned The Knitting Pirate. - a brand new
Picture Book Webinar Bundle including one webinar on Concept Books and the other on Rhyme, Verse and Lyricism in Picture Books, generously donated by
Emma Walton Hamilton, author, editor, writing coach, and teacher of the fabulous Just Write For Kids courses.
- a 2016 Membership to
Children's Book Insider, including their Children's Writing Knowledge Base, an absolutely fabulous resource for kid lit writers of all kinds, generously offered by
Jon Bard and
Laura Backes - A
Picture Book Manuscript Critique by talented author/illustrator
Iza Trapani, author of JINGLE BELLS, OLD KING COLE, ITSY BITSY SPIDER, and many, many more!
- A
Picture Book Manuscript Critique by the fabulous
Lori Degman, author of 1 ZANY ZOO and COCK-A-DOODLE OOPS!
- an
e-copy of the fantastic
How To Promote Your Children's Book generously donated by
Katie Davis!
- Enrollment in
Making Picture Book Magic (my online picture book writing class - in January or a later month to be mutually agreed upon by the winner and me)
- A 6-Month Membership to the new and fabulous
One Stop For Writers Site!
-
2016 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
- another
2016 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
- a pack of Susanna Leonard Hill's amazing
What's The Story Cards (hitherto un-introduced to the world!) - writing prompts for every occasion :)
- another pack of Susanna Leonard Hill's amazing
What's The Story CardsI can't thank these authors and other industry professionals enough for their incredible generosity! Please visit their sites, buy and recommend their books and services to your writer friends and/or friends with kids, write them nice reviews on Amazon, GoodReads etc if you've read and liked their books, and show your appreciation to them in any way you can!
The Contest Winner gets first choice of the prizes. 2nd place gets next choice of what's left and so on. I do it this way in the hopes that no one will get something they already have and also because I think all the prizes are fabulous and I wouldn't want to make anyone feel less valued by giving them as 6th place as opposed to 1st. :)
As you all know, I do not normally post on Thursdays.
That is because Thursday is my day for lying on the couch eating bonbons.
I am making an exception today because I have something VERY important to discuss with you.
Something that I know has been weighing as heavily on your minds as it has on mine.
Something very crucial!
Something so earth-shatteringly important that it probably kept you up all night!
So let's just lay it out on the table, shall we?
What is the deal with nuts in dessert items?
I'm serious! Whose idea was that???
Obviously a dessert like pecan pie requires nuts. I'm okay with that.
But brownies, cookies, and ice cream were made to be fudgy, chewy, and creamy respectively. I'm sure you can see how adding hard, crunchy nuts is totally counter to the texture experience and therefore to the true enjoyment of said desserts! Such appalling effrontery!
I think it's high time we take a stand, don't you?
NO MORE NUTS! NO MORE NUTS!
What?
You think I'M nuts???
I won't lie. I'm a little hurt.
Sad face.
Sniffle-sniffle.
Were you expecting a discussion on another topic?
I'm not sure anything needs our attention as much as the ongoing nuts/no nuts debate...
...except maybe...
THE WINNERS OF
The 5th Annual HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!
WA-HOOOOOOO!!!!!
(But wait! Before I announce, do you want to state your opinion on whether nuts belong in dessert items?
No? You're sure?
Alrighty then. Don't say I never gave you a chance to be heard :))
As you are all aware by now, we had a record turnout for the Halloweensie Contest - 145 entries! (Plus 2 that came in after the deadline!) Holy Halloweensie! Who'd-a-thunk it?
I was thrilled beyond measure to see so many wonderful stories and meet so many new writers!
But with large entry numbers come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Monday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another (one reason being that, at a certain point, we just had to stop adding finalists to the list! :))
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For
Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole:
Mishka Jaeger for
The Little Trick-or-Treater Vivian Kirkfield for
Halloween Fever Sandy Jones for
Frank-N-Stein's Store Gabi Snyder for
Jack's First Night (which could also have placed in Best Original POV for being told from a pumpkin's viewpoint!)
2. For
Best Entry For Teen Readers:
Lori Dubbin for
Indelible! (beautifully done!!!)
3. For
Great Kid Appeal: (not already in the finals)
Charlotte Dixon for
Arabella's Web Stacy Jensen for
Gilda's Zombie Fix Julie Rowan-Zoch for
Creeeaak.... Shaelyn Berg for
Scaredy House Saundra Jones for
Halloween Countdown (youngest readers)
4. For
Best Descriptive/Mood Piece:
Rosi Hollinbeck for
The Halloweensie Party Becky Shillington for
Monster Bash5. For
Best Use of Poetic Language:
Randi Sonenshine for
March Of The Gargoyles Suzy Levinson for
Trick For Treats6. For
Spookiest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Bradin Farnworth for
Buddy Amanda Sincavage for
The Haunted Dash7. For
Funniest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Stephanie Salkin for
Mummy Unveiled (which also had great poetic language!)
Mike Allegra for
Night Ninja 8. For being
Judge #3's Favorite Entry :)
Lynne Pisano for
Boo Who? 9. For
Best Written Original Point of View:
Johnell DeWitt for
Dark's Knight (POV of the dark!)
Marlaina Gray for
YIPE! (POV of a terrier :))
10. For
Originality/Creativity:
Carrie Burrows for
Sophie And The Teal Pumpkin (because we learned about the Teal Pumpkin for allergy-sensitive trick-or-treaters!)
11.
For Favorite Character:
Lisa Riddiough for
Mo, The Ghost Who Said MooCongratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com to collect your prize, which is your choice of
one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they're about)
For Kindle:
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
In paperback:
Show & Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell, OR
Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR
Evoking Emotion by Angela Hunt, OR
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard
Now then. A word about the prizes before I announce the winners.
We have 9 fabulous prizes, generously donated by authors and various professionals in the writing field. My policy is to let the first place winner have first pick of all the prizes, the second place winner have second choice, etc. That way hopefully nobody gets something they already have, and hopefully everyone gets something that's valuable to them. All prizes are listed at the bottom of this post for your convenience in perusing the goodies :)
Now.
Finally!
Onto the moment you've all been waiting for. . .
. . . the reason you got out of bed this morning. . .
. . . to tell the world once and for all how you feel about nuts in your dessert!
. . . THE WINNERS OF THE 2014 HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST as chosen by you, our esteemed voters!!!!!
In First Place, winner of the whole entire contest and top of the heap who gets first choice of all the prizes...
Shelley Kinder
for
A Meaty Trick-or-Treat
Congratulations, Shelley, on a delightful entry that was all around well done and clearly very popular!!!
In Second Place,
Sam Steinfels
for
Spooky Spies
Congratulations, Sam, on an exceptionally clever premise beautifully executed! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Shelley chooses!
In Third Place, a tie!!! between
Marla Lesage Polly (sorry I don't know your last name!) for for
Pirate Prepares For Halloween Nothing To Wear
Congratulations, Marla and Polly, on entertaining, well written entries that we all loved! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Shelley and Sam choose!
In Fifth Place, a three-way tie!!!
Buffy Silverman Cathy Mealy Jana Locke
for for for
Spider's Halloween Debut Goodnight Halloween The Unicorn Ate My Candy Corn:
A Halloween Tall Tale
Congratulations, Buffy, Cathy and Jana, on your wonderful entries! You get to pick your prizes after Shelley, Sam, Marla and Polly!
In Eighth Place,
Patricia Nozell
for
Leila's First Halloween
Congratulations, Patricia, on a standout entry that was markedly different from the others with its unique theme! You get to pick your prize after Shelley, Sam, Marla, Polly, Buffy, Cathy, and Jana!
In Ninth Place, Julie Abery for The Teensy-Weensy Witch! Congratulations, Julie! What a determined little witch! You get the idea of the prize picking by now I'm sure :)
And, I don't think I need to remind anyone that in addition to all these fabulous prizes, everyone mentioned on this page has bragging rights as having won or placed in the Pretty Much World Famous Halloweensie Contest! Not just anyone can say that :)
All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! Finalists who did not finish in the top 10 (Stephanie, Jacqueline, Jean, and Chrystal) may also contact me for their choice of the Kindle or paperback prizes listed above.
Congratulations again to all our winners - it was a stiff competition!! - and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a huge round of applause, a confetti parade, and a large amount of chocolate cake :)
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people's stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It's because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
And before we go, I will give you all advance warning so you can start planning a little time into your December schedule...
The 5th Annual Holiday Writing Contest will be coming up sometime in the neighborhood of December 7-11 so we can all fully enjoy it and still have time for last minute holiday things. I will do my best to post the rules well in advance so you all have time to work on your stories!
Have a terrific Thursday everyone, and thanks again for making the Halloweensie Contest such a wonderful time for all! :)
The Prizes: we've got some seriously amazing prizes! (words in color are links to more info)
-
a picture book manuscript critique by picture book author Diana Murray!
website
Please join me again in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for holiday or other gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazon, B&N or anywhere else if you like them, or supporting them in any other way you can dream up :)
Happy Friday, Everyone!
Yes, yes! I know what day it is!
Normally, I would tease you for a while and pretend I didn't know what brought you to this neck of the woods or what you were after, but not today.
Nope.
Today I'm going to get straight to the point.
No beating around the bush.
Nosirree Bob!
I'm going to give you what you came for . . .
. . . just as soon as we come up with an answer to that eternal burning question: whose idea was tinsel anyway and does anyone actually use it?
Because seriously, that stuff is as bad as Easter grass! It gets everywhere!
In your hair! In the carpet! On the dogs...
And who has the patience to separate it out into single strands to drape artfully over the limbs of your Christmas tree? (And let's face it, it does not have the same effect if you just glob it on in clumps...!)
And we're not even going to TALK about if you have cats! By golly! That's just a disaster waiting to happen!
You're all writers! Let your imagination run amok with the idea of cats, tinsel, Christmas trees...
Yikes! Truly, I shudder to think!
So anyway, where was I?
Oh, yes!
I was not beating around the bush.
I wonder what bush it is that I'm not beating around?
Is it the same as the bush in "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush?"
Or maybe the bush that a bird in the hand is worth two birds in?
I'm guessing if there are two birds they are turtle doves, because that's how the song goes. You know, "On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves..." Yeah. Like that.
Except not a partridge, because he was in a pear tree and we are certainly not beating around the pear tree!
Boy! All this not beating around things is making me a little dizzy!
So maybe I'll stop and just tell you about
The 4th Annual Holiday Contest!!!
:)
I was once again thrilled to see so many wonderful stories! Really! It is amazing and inspiring, not to mention VERY entertaining! There is just so much talent out there amongst you all!
But with large entry numbers, all of high quality, come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Tuesday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another.
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For
Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole:
Leslie Tribble for
The Perfect Christmas Tree Anne Bromley for
Christmas Eve At Gate 25 Lauri Meyers for
Jimmy Cantore Steals Christmas2. For
Fabulous Fun Kid-Friendly Stories (That Sadly Fell Short On The Weather Element But Were Too Good Not To Recognize!): Stacy Jensen for
How Do I Fix This? Bridget Magee for
Dear Santa Margaret Greanias for
A Little Christmas Wish Pam Vaughan for
My Snowman Is Sick Jim Jones for
Snowflake...A Christmas Tail3. For
We-Loved-It-But-Thought-The Humor-Was-A-Little-Too-Grown-Up :)
(and seriously, these were terrific entries, well written and funny!)
Mike Allegra for
Carbon Christmas Heather Preusser for
Dreaming Of A White Christmas Kristen Foote for
Polar Warming Hilary (Swann?) for
No Sweat Santa 4. For
Sweet Stories That Exemplified Christmas Spirit: Sharon Wilson for
A Little Christmas Miracle Patricia Corcoran for
The Christmas Miracle Sally Suehler for
Just Ice And Snow 5. For
Fantastic Word Play: Amy Ozay for
Rain, dear6. For
Best First Line:
James Lloyd for
Pablo's First Christmas 7. For
Best-Written Original Point Of View: Carol Lescinski for
The Best Christmas (excellent stuffed dog POV!)
Summer Hinderer for
The Snow Miracle (POV of gingerbread people in Gingerbreadville!)
and
8. The
Keep Up The Great Writing Award goes to:
Ms. Leach's First Grade for
Hopeful Christmas Eve And first graders, your special prize will be Happily Ever Madlibs and Once Upon A Madlibs, which we hope you will enjoy doing as a class on days when you can't go out for recess or something :) as well as 2 StoryWorld Create-A-Story Kits:
Quests And Adventures and
Fairy Magic which can be used in lots of fun ways to inspire writing and storytelling (and for even more fun you can pull cards from both decks to expand possibilities!) Thank you for writing another wonderful story for all of us to enjoy!
Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all
email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com to collect your prize, which is your choice of
one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they're about)
For Kindle:Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard OR
The Easy Way To Write Picture Books That Sell by Robyn Parnell OR
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Ultimate Fiction Thesaurus by Sam Stone OR
In paperback:Show & Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell OR
The Six Senses In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Bleak To Bold Narrative by Jessica Bell OR
Adverbs And Cliches In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions Of Adverbs & Cliches Into Gourmet Imagery by Jessica Bell OR
Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR
And now...
...the moment you've all been waiting for...
The announcement of the WINNERS OF THE 2014 HOLIDAY CONTEST as voted on by you!!!
rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat
DDDRRRUUUMMM RRROOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
In First Place...
Winner of the whole shebang...
who gets first choice of all the prizes...
Randy Sonenshine
for The Rumbledy Jumbledy Holiday Feast!!!
Congratulations, Randy, on a fabulous and fun entry that was clearly very popular!!! :)
In Second Place...
Elaine Kiely Kearns
for 'Twas The Stormy Night Before Christmas
Congratulations, Elaine!! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Randy makes her choice.
In Third Place...
Katey Howes
for Snow Swirls
Congratulations, Katey! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Randy and Elaine choose theirs.
In Fourth Place...
Julie Abery
for Santa's Satnav
Congratulations, Julie! You get to pick after Randy, Elaine and Katey.
In Fifth Place...
Anika Denise
for Little Christmas, BIG SNOW
Congratulations, Anika! You get to pick after Randy, Elaine, Katey, and Julie.
In Sixth Place...
Bronwyn Deaver
for Jack Quits
Congratulations, Bronwyn! I'm sure you get the idea of how the prize picking goes by now :)
In Seventh Place...
Sylvia Liu
for Polar Woes
Congratulations, Sylvia! You get to pick next :)
In Eighth Place...
Amelia Shearer
for The Night The Sun Stayed Up
Congratulations, Amelia! You get to pick a prize after Sylvia!
In Ninth Place, we have a tie! between
Johnell DeWitt and Teresa Robeson
for A Djiboutian Christmas Sandstorm Santa
Congratulations, Johnell and Teresa! You get to pick next!
In Eleventh Place...
Kirsten Bock
for Hurricane Coal
And in Twelfth Place, rounding out the top dozen of these amazing finalists and the 100 Holiday Contest Entries for 2014...
Carol Ann Martin
for Wish You'd Been Here
All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! And for your convenience, the whole prize list is included at the bottom of this post.
Congratulations again to all our winners - it was a stiff competition!! - and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a huge round of applause, a tinsel parade (clumpy or stringy, however you like it :)), and a large amount of Figgy Pudding (which truthfully I don't know what that is, but apparently it's something we all want some of :))
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people's stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It's because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
As I... hmm... maybe didn't mention...?, I'm taking a little blogging break so I can spend time with my family - I've got cookies to bake, Christmas presents to shop for and wrap, and my sister and her family are arriving form Georgia on Monday! :) - so I will see you all in a couple weeks - most probably Wednesday January 7th for Would You Read It unless I have something really important to impart on Monday the 5th... but I'm not really foreseeing that :)
So now, I want to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday filled with love, laughter, joy, and family, and a happy, healthy and successful new year! It is a pleasure and a privilege to get to spend time with you all, and I'm happy and grateful to know each and every one of you!
Looking forward to all the things we'll do in 2015!
Happy Holidays, and all best wishes for a wonderful New Year!!!
Love,
The Prizes!!!
- A picture book manuscript read and critique by Shari Dash Greenspan, Editor of the multi-award winning
Flashlight Press! I encourage you to sign up for their newsletter
HERE!
- A website or blog design or redesign by
Arturo Alviar.
Arturo will design (or redesign if you already have one that needs updating or a new look) a website or blog for the winner of this prize. The site will be built on Wordpress so that after he is done designing it, the winner can manage it themselves with ease. Arturo will include a Home/Welcome page, an About Me/Bio page, a Works/Books/Gallery section, and a Contact section (4 pages total), as well as a blog section if the winner would like to have that integrated with the new site. Different organizations can also be made, for example if the winner would like a "Services" section with separate "School Visits" and "Critiques" pages, or a "Works" section divided into "Black and White" and "Color" illustration galleries. The winner can choose any of the Wordpress themes (if they choose one that isn't free, the cost of the theme will be covered by them), or have Arturo choose a theme based on their vision, and Arturo will modify it based on their color and layout preferences (some themes will have more constraints than others). Arturo can also design a personalized banner or header image to customize the website. If you already have a website and/or blog and prefer a redesign to update, refresh, or just redecorate, Arturo is willing to work with Blogger, Wix, Drupal, and Wordpress. - Enrollment in
Making Picture Book Magic (my online picture book writing class - in March or a later month to be mutually agreed upon by the winner and me)
- A picture book manuscript critique by fabulous author
Amy Dixon, author of MARATHON MOUSE and the forthcoming SOPHIE'S ANIMAL PARADE.
- A picture book manuscript critique from
Katy Duffield, author of more than 20 books for children including
Farmer McPeepers And His Missing Milk Cows (Cooper Square Publishing 2003) and upcoming titles
Loud Lula (Two Lions) illustrated by Mike Boldt and Aliens Get the Sniffles, Too (Candlewick) illustrated by K.G. Campbell. - A picture book manuscript critique (rhyme or prose) from Penny Parker Klostermann who, after extensive experience critiquing for writing partners, members of various kid lit groups, and clients of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, is opening her own critique service!!!
Penny Parker Klostermann writes picture books and poetry. Her debut book, THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT, is coming from Random House Children’s, August 2015. Penny is represented by Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Click HERE to learn more about her critique service.
Happy Thursday, Folks!
It was so nice of y'all to come visit me on a non-posting day!
Really, the fact that you would come all the way over here just to see me makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :) You are all so sweet!
Can I offer you some refreshments? Forgive me for being a little unprepared - I wasn't expecting company today - but please, help yourselves to coffee and donuts!
Everybody got something? Good! Let's get comfy and settle in for a nice chat!
I have a scintillating story to tell you about the smell in our bathroom wall.
No! Not
that kind of smell!
What happened was this:
On Saturday, we lit a fire in the fireplace for the first time this fall. No sooner did the chimney heat up then a dreadful odor began to pervade the house! We traced it to the upstairs bathroom wall which, oddly enough, does not touch the chimney.
You would really think that in order for a smell to be coaxed out of the wall it would have to be quite near the heat source, but apparently this is not the case, because the bathroom wall is not anywhere near the chimney, but there was no doubt about the smell.
Ah, the mysteries of architecture!
But wait. Where was I?
Oh, yeah. The dreadful odor...
So there we were, enjoying our first cozy fire of the season, when this ghastly smell nearly knocked us flat. Obviously it was imperative that we discover the cause...
What?
You don't care about the dreadful odor in my bathroom wall?
I think you should at least
pretend, seeing as how you're my guests and I gave you donuts!
You're only here for the donuts and the what?
You want results?
What kind of results?
And who's to say I have them? I may have been incapacitated by the decomposing bat (yes, that's what was causing the dreadful odor, since clearly I'm not going to get to finish telling my story...!)
But really, a decomposing bat is a pretty appropriate item to have found right before announcing. . .
THE WINNERS OF
The 4th Annual HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!
WA-HOOOOOOO!!!!!
(But wait! Before I announce, do you want to see pictures of the decomposing bat?
No? You're sure?
Alrighty then. Don't say I never offered you anything :))
As you are all aware by now, we had a record turnout for the Halloweensie Contest - 132 entries! Holy Halloweensie! Who'd-a-thunk it?
I was thrilled beyond measure to see so many wonderful stories and meet so many new writers!
But with large entry numbers come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Monday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another (one reason being that, at a certain point, we just had to stop adding finalists to the list! :))
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For
Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole:
Susan Halko for
The Contest Mishka Jaeger for
The Poag's Revenge Julie Abery for
Orinda Owl's First Halloween 2. For
Great Kid Appeal: (not already in the finals)
Marla Lesage for
At Grandma's House Last Halloween (which was also delightfully spooky!)
Marty McCormick for
Winnie's Spell Christie Allred for
Petie Pumpkin And The Stinky Halloween Teresa M.I. Schaefer for
The Best Pumpkin Marlaina Gray for
Lolly Is Scary Tracie Percival for
The Misspelled Witch Vivian Kirkfield for
A Night Of Friendship For Miss Witch3. For
Best Descriptive/Mood Piece:
Carol (whose last name I'm sorry I don't know!) for
Halloween Night Mandy Yates for
On This Night4. For
Best Use of Poetic Language:
Penny Klostermann for
HG (Haunted and Ghostly) TV Ex-Scream Makeover Ghost Edition5. For
Spookiest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Eric Hammond for
The Scarecrow Michelle Valencia for
The Halloween Sneer Jean James for
Trick Or Treat? Alistair Lane for
The Raven And The Pumpkin 6. For
Sweetest/Cutest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Anne Bromley for
The Pumpkin Patch Scarecrow (sweet)
Jennifer Wesselink for
Five Silly Monsters (cute)
Ellen Leventhal for
Emma's Evening Ride (cute)
7. For
Saddest Ending:
Nancy Hatch for
It's Time To Fly8. For
Best Written Original Point of View:
Victoria Aranda for
Creaks (written from the POV of a haunted house)
9. For
Excellence In Depicting Sibling Relationships:
Carrie Charley Brown for
Prankenstein Kimberly Cowger for
First Flight of Halloween Joanne Sher for
Dumb Jack-'O-Lanterns10. For
Originality/Creativity:
Jen Garrett for
How To Carve A Pumpkin11.
For Favorite Character:
Pat Tilton for her "gutsy witch" who "slammed the ghost with her sack of candy" in
Little Ghost :)
12. For
Best Group Entry:
Susanne Leach and her First Grade Class for
Sweetsie's Jack-O-Lantern*Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com to collect your prize, which is your choice of
one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they're about)
For Kindle:
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard OR
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
In paperback:
Show & Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell, OR
Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR
Evoking Emotion by Angela Hunt
* The exception is Susanne Leach and her First Grade Class. I wasn't sure they'd have much use for the aforementioned writing guides, so instead a group of lovely authors and I would like to present them with a gift pack of signed picture books for their classroom, including NINJA RED RIDING HOOD by Corey Rosen Schwartz, FARMER MCPEEPERS by Katy Duffield, COCK-A-DOODLE OOPS by Lori Degman, MARATHON MOUSE by Amy Dixon, and PUNXSUTAWNEY PHYLLIS by yours truly.
Great job, first graders! You knocked our socks off! :)
Now then. A word about the prizes before I announce the winners.
We have 10 fabulous prizes, generously donated by authors and various professionals in the writing field. Since some of the winners may already have taken a class, or own a book, or have only rhyming mss or only non-rhyming mss for critique, etc, my policy is to let the first place winner have first pick of all the prizes, the second place winner have second choice, etc. That way nobody gets something they already have, and hopefully everyone gets something that's valuable to them. All prizes are listed at the bottom of this post for your convenience in perusing the goodies :)
Now.
Finally!
Onto the moment you've all been waiting for. . .
. . . the reason you got out of bed this morning. . .
. . . to see a picture of my decomposing bat!
. . . THE WINNERS OF THE 2014 HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST as chosen by you, our esteemed voters!!!!!
In First Place, winner of the whole entire contest and top of the heap who gets first choice of all the prizes...
Jodi McKay
for
Halloween Hide-and-Go-Seek
Congratulations, Jodi, on a delightful entry that was all around well done and clearly very popular!!!
In Second Place,
Nick Rowe
for
Halloween SMS (Short Messaging Scariness)
Congratulations, Nick, on a wonderfully spooky entry with very creative and original formatting! Well done! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jodi chooses!
In Third Place,
Lauri Meyers
for
Sulky Spider's Spooky Webs
Congratulations, Lauri, on a well written, clever, and funny entry that we all loved! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Jodi and Nick choose!
In Fourth Place,
Nancy Tandon
for
Snip, Snap, Crack
Congratulations, Nancy, on a deliciously creepy entry! You get to pick your prize after Jodi, Nick, and Lauri!
In Fifth Place,
Joanna Marple
for
Devious Dads And Halloween
Congratulations, Joanna, on a very clever and creatively formatted entry! You get to pick your prize after Jodi, Nick, Lauri, and Nancy!
In Sixth Place,
Gina Silvester
for
Halloween Chase
Congratulations, Gina, on an entry that was tons of spooky fun! You get to pick your prize after Jodi, Nick, Lauri, Nancy, and Joanna!
In Seventh Place, Carrie Finison for The Shadow! Congratulations, Carrie! Your rhyme was outstanding, and we loved your little cat :) You get to pick next :)
In Eighth Place, Linda Schueler for Creaky Cackle! Congratulations, Linda! Your entry may have been the funniest one in the pack! You get to pick after Carrie!
In Ninth Place, Michelle Barnes for This Year's Halloween Mascot! Congratulations, Michelle! Boy, do you know how to write believable kid behavior :) You get the idea of the prize picking by now I'm sure :)
and in Tenth Place, Amelia West for Full Moon Rising! Congratulations, Amelia! Nicely done! You get the remaining prize! :)
And, I don't think I need to remind anyone that in addition to all these fabulous prizes, everyone mentioned on this page has bragging rights as having won or placed in the Pretty Much World Famous Halloweensie Contest! Not just anyone can say that :)
All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! Finalists who did not finish in the top 10 (Michael, Mike, and Debbie) may also contact me for their choice of the Kindle or paperback prizes listed above.
Congratulations again to all our winners - it was a stiff competition!! - and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a huge round of applause, a confetti parade, and a large amount of chocolate cake :)
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people's stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It's because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
And before we go, I will give you all advance warning so you can start planning a little time into your December schedule...
The 4th Annual Holiday Writing Contest will be coming up sometime in the neighborhood of December 8-12. I'm running it a little bit earlier this year so we can all fully enjoy it and still have time for last minute holiday things. And to whet your appetites and get your thinking caps on, I will tell you that first prize is something AWESOME! A picture book manuscript read and critique by an actual editor at an actual highly regarded publishing house!!! But that is all I'm saying for now :) You will just have to stay tuned for more details as the Holiday Contest approaches. And I will do my best to post the rules well in advance so you all have time to work on your stories!
Have a terrific Thursday everyone, and thanks again for making the Halloweensie Contest such a wonderful time for all! :)
The Prizes: we've got some seriously amazing prizes! (words in color are links to more info)
-
Julie Hedlund's fantastic new course
How To Make Money As An Author, interesting, educational and suitable for writers at any stage of their career
- a 2015 membership to
Children's Book Insider, an absolutely fabulous resource for kid lit writers of all kinds, generously offered by
Jon Bard and
Laura Backes - a picture book manuscript critique from the renowned
Alayne Christian (prose only, 800 words or less)
Alayne Kay Christian is an award winning author of BUTTERFLY KISSES FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA. She is represented by Erzsi Deak of Hen&Ink Literary Studio. To read more about Alayne, her critique service, and her books visit her websites and blog.
- a picture book manuscript critique (rhyme or prose) from
Penny Parker Klostermann who, after extensive experience critiquing for writing partners, members of various kid lit groups, and clients of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, is opening her own critique service!!!
Penny Parker Klostermann writes picture books and poetry. Her debut book, THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT, is coming from Random House Children’s, August 2015. Penny is represented by Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Click HERE to learn more about her critique service.
- a picture book manuscript critique by Tracey M. Cox! Tracey offers a full critique on a fiction PB, 800 words or less, which will include overall impression and line-by-line on a prose only pb ms. She will also include thoughts and marketing ideas that she thinks about and if she can think of references, she'll add them also. Tracey M. Cox has been writing professionally since 2000 and is an author of 6 picture books. She is an active member in the children's literature community and explores how to self-market on little to no budget.
Website: www.traceymcox.com
Blog: www.traceymcox.wordpress.com
- an e-pub or PDF copy (winner's choice) of
Linda Ashman's
Nuts And Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books - a personalized signed copy of
I WANNA GO HOME by Karen Kaufman Orloff, the latest in the brilliant PB series that began with I WANNA IGUANA. (Reviewed
HERE for PPBF)
- a personalized signed copy of
I AM COW HEAR ME MOO by Jill Esbaum (reviewed for Perfect Picture Books
HERE and
HERE - yep, it's so popular it got reviewed for PPBF twice :))
- a personalized signed copy of
NINJA RED RIDING HOOD by Corey Rosen Schwartz, the riveting follow-up to THE THREE NINJA PIGS. (Reviewed
HERE for PPBF)
- a PDF copy of Ryan Sias's
A Spooky-Doodle E-Book,
"doodle pages, drawing lessons and writing prompts inspire kids to invent their own stories, characters and artwork."
Please join me again in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for holiday or other gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazon, B&N or anywhere else if you like them, or supporting them in any other way you can dream up :)
Good Monday, everyone!
(Doesn't that sound so Shakespeare-y? It's like Good Morrow :))
I know none of you has gotten a minute of rest or a wink of sleep for days, what with the torturous anticipation of finding out who the winners of the contest are!
The First Ever Pretty-Much-World-Famous Illustration Contest!!!
You've probably gnawed all the erasers off your pencils, bitten your nails to the quick, and lost 5 pounds from being unable to contemplate the idea of sustenance whilst in such a heightened state of suspense! (That's okay, it means you can have triple helpings of chocolate on Wednesday when you stop by for Would You Read It :))
So I will not keep you in suspense any longer!
(I would not want to be responsible for one more brow wrinkle or gray hair of consternation and anxiety! :))
I just have one quick thing to say, which is that EVERYONE who entered this contest should be very proud of themselves. You all showed up, put in the work, produced GORGEOUS book covers (which our authors are all so thrilled about!), followed guidelines, and worked to a deadline - all very important skills to practice when illustrating and/or writing is your profession :) Even if you didn't make the finals, be assured that your illustrations were greatly enjoyed by many upon many! Seriously! I am not making this up. The contest post with all your links had around 3 thousand views, which means lots of people were visiting you, even if they didn't all comment! So we are giving you a round of thunderous applause -
clapclapclapclapclap!!!!! - and you should pat yourselves on the back and have an extra slice of chocolate cake - you did good! :)
Also, I had a lovely time at the Hudson Children's Book Festival on Saturday. I got to see my dear friends Iza Trapani (she of illustrious judging fame :)) and Nancy Furstinger, and I had the honor of being placed at a signing table right next to none other than Jane O'Connor (you know,
Fancy Nancy Jane O'Connor!) I felt like I was very much in the wrong place next to all that famousness!
And then I spent all day Sunday driving to Boston...
What?
You don't care?
That's kind of rude, don't you think? When I was about to tell you about how I was
forced encouraged to listen to Pink Floyd's The Wall straight through from start to finish at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning? Which is not the most uplifting set of tunes, let me tell you, even though there's a lot of great music involved. And I can tell you that by the end of the entire day of driving, certain parts of my anatomy were
unComfortably Numb...
What?
Oh gosh! Right! I was supposed to be telling you about the winners! Sorry. My bad!
DDDDDRRRRRUUUUUMMMMM RRRRROOOOOLLLLLLLLLL PLEASE!!!!
The winner of the First Ever Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest and a portfolio critique by Michael Garland!!! is:
Julie Rowan-Zoch
with her stunning cover for Elliah Terry's The Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster!
Congratulations, Julie! That is some cover! It knocked a lot of socks off! :)
In second place, winner of a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick Art Materials is
Donna Marie
with her bold and colorful cover for Mike Allegra's Goldilockup
Congratulations, Donna Marie! Your cover was absolutely fabulous!
In third place,*
Louis Davilla Wiyono
with his humorous cover for Mike Allegra's Goldilockup
Congratulations, Louis! Your cover was arresting! :)
In fourth place,*
Colleen Kosinski
with her winsome cover for Mike Allegra's Goldilockup
Congratulations, Colleen! Your sweet cover made us feel sorry for the naughty Goldi :)
In fifth place,*
Anne Mitchell
with her delightful cover for Jennifer Caritas's The "Princess" And The Pete
Congratulations, Anne! Your cover was so appealing!
In sixth place, winner of a Canson sketch pad and a small set of Derwent or Faber Castell colored pencils is
Tiemdow Phumiruk
with her mischievous cover for Elliah Terry's The Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster
Congratulations, Tiemdow! Your cover was such fun!
* Third, fourth, and fifth place winners each have their choice of any
one of the following books:
Winners, please
email me so we can talk details :)
Thank you again to all the illustrators who participated in this contest and treated us all to such beautiful artwork; to our wonderful judges, Iza Trapani and Lisa Thiesing, without whom we could not have done this!; and to all the readers and viewers who visited, commented, and voted to celebrate these talented artists! It is all of you who make these contests fun and worthwhile! Hear! Hear! What the heck! Even though it's not Wednesday, let's have a little chocolate all around! :)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, ALL!!!
Have a magnificent Monday, everyone! :)
Oh. My. Goodness!
That was the closest, most hotly contested race for a winner we've ever had!
I hope that means that my assistant judges and I made good choices for the finalists! :)
The March Madness Writing Contest!
I admit it - I get all the fun. Sitting in the judge's chair, watching the votes come in, seeing first one person and then another in the lead, biting my nails when there are ties, waiting on pins and needles to see who will emerge victorious....
Normally I'd string you along and tease you for a while, but I'm too wiped out by this whole roller-coaster process.
Truly, it is not for the faint of heart.
Up one minute, down the next. Nerves stretched like bow strings.
A person less physically fit than myself (haha snort! - can't say THAT with a straight face after this winter :)) might suffer palpitations!
And speaking of palpitations, I had them aplenty when her royal highness, Miss Scouty Brown, came sauntering back in the house this morning having found something dreadful to roll in! "What is that SMELL???!!!" all the children shrieked!
Fortunately, we are in the midst of a small flood which, aside from making the basement a delightful place for canoeing, means that there is a lot of water outside. Scouty was able to enjoy her first swim of the year... twice... with the fortuitous result that she returned from our walk refreshed and smelling mostly like wet dog instead of Something Yucky.
But wait.
What were we talking about?
Oh yes!
The contest!
So, who won?
Oh! I'm supposed to tell you!
:)
Okay.
Seriously.
I'm really going to tell.
We had 75 fantastic entries, which we winnowed down by hook or by crook, to the best of our ability, to 10 fabulous finalists.
Y'all voted for your favorites.
And the winner of the 2014 March Madness Writing Contest, who gets to send the picture book manuscript of her choice to none other than the renowned children's literary agent, Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary is. . .
duhn duhn duhn
dddddrrrrruuuuummmmm rrrrrooooollllllllll pppppllllleeeeeaaaaassssseeeee!!!!!
Wendy Greenley
with her clever Three Wiggly Worms Bluff!!!
Congratulations on a wonderful story, Wendy! I think it's clear that a LOT of people really enjoyed it! :)
Now, I wasn't kidding when I said this contest was hotly contested. I kept asking for votes this weekend, hoping the ties would get broken, but not all of them did.
So, for 2nd place we had a tie between
Mike Allegra
with the fantabulous Goldilockup!
and
Dawn Young
with the hilarious Goldibawks!
Congratulations Mike and Dawn, on two terrific and very different twists on Goldilocks! Lori and Cori have generously agreed to each give a critique instead of just one or the other, so you will each get a picture book critique by a fantastic author!
In 3rd place, guess what? Another tie! This time between
Pen Avey
with her delicious Sweetie Witch
and
Lauri Meyers
with her daring Princess And The Stinky Cheese!
Congratulations, Pen and Lauri! I will prevail upon Corey to tire her signing hand by signing copies of her books for both of you! :) And you may email me about your gift cards.
4th place goes to
Darshana Khiani
with her delightful Mongoose's Holi Party!
Congratulations, Darshana, on a truly original tale! You may choose the two picture books you'd like from the prize list. (I'll tack it on the bottom of the post for easy reference :)) And email me about your gift card.
In 5th place,
Jennifer Caritas (hope I've got that right...!)
with another forthright heroine in The "Princess" And The Pete!
Congratulations on a terrific story, Jennifer! You may also choose the two picture books you'd like from the prize list below and email me about your gift card.
And in 6th place,
Elliah Terry
with her fun southwestern Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster!
Congratulations, Elliah! I bet that gila monster is still running from the coyote :) You will receive a personalized sighed copy of SNORING BEAUTY by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!
All the winners should
email me to work out prize details!
But now, we are not quite done.
Because, like I said, this was a hotly contested contest. My assistant judges and I had quite a few other favorites that we felt couldn't quite make the finalist list for one reason or another, but we all thought they were worthy of recognition. So the following people (in no particular order) receive our heartfelt Honorable Mention!
Gaye Hemsley - Chocolate Muffins
Joanne Roberts - Goldi And The Three Squirrels
Vivian Kirkfield - Singerella
Katie Gast - Little Dead Riding Hood
Katie Cullinan - The Three Little Easter Bunnies
Jen Doherty - The Mischievous Fire Truck
Laura Shovan - The 12 Clumsy Princesses
Margaret Greenias - The Big, Bad-Mannered Wolf
Angela Turner - The Belle And The Sticker Burrs
Cheryl Secomb - Little Red Rider
Robert Schechter - Humpty
Erik Weibel - The Once Upon A Times
Rachel - Handsome And Gretchin
Congratulations to all of you on stories that were original, fun, and very entertaining! You may all choose
one of the following as a prize: (titles are links so you can check them out)
Kindle Edition -
The Nuts & Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books by Linda Ashman
Kindle Edition -
Picture Books The Write Way by Laura Purdie Salas & Lisa Bullard
Kindle Edition -
How To Write A Children's Picture Book by Darcy Pattison
Kindle Edition -
The Easy Way To Write Picture Books That Sell by Robin Opie Parnell
Kindle Edition -
How To Promote Your Children's Book: Tips, Tricks and Secrets To Create A Bestseller by Katie Davis
Paperback -
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly by Gail Carson Levine (also available for Kindle)
Paperback -
How To Write A Novel: 47 Rules For Writing A Stupendously Awesome Novel That You Will Love Forever by Nathan Bransford (also available for Kindle)
Paperback -
The Plot Skeleton by Angela Hunt (also available for Kindle)
Please
email me and let me know your preference!
Congratulations to everyone who entered a story in this contest. You all did an amazing job! My assistant judges and I loved every story for one reason or another. And I think it's fair to say that you entertained a LARGE number of readers!
Thank you so much to everyone who visited blogs, read, commented, and voted - these contests couldn't happen without you!
And thank you to the generous people who donated prizes - Karen Grencik, Lori Degman, and Cori Doerffeld - you're what everyone tries so hard for and you bring out the best in the writing community!
It's been another fun contest, and I thank you all!
I was going to announce the upcoming first ever
* Illustrator Contest
* today, but this post is too long already, and I really don't want to distract from the winners' moment in the spotlight, so I will either write a special Tuesday post for tomorrow or tack it onto the Would You Read It post on Wednesday.
So congratulations again to all the winners for all their wonderful stories, and to everyone who wrote a story for this contest. You are all winners just for showing up, writing something new, and practicing your craft!
Have a marvelous Monday, everyone! :)
List of Prizes:
- 1st Prize is a read and critique by
Karen Grencik of
Red Fox Literary!!! (Unless for some reason you don't want a read and critique by an agent, in which case you may swap for any of the other prizes)
- 2nd Prize is a picture book manuscript critique (for rhyming mss only) by
Lori Degman, author of 1 ZANY ZOO and the forthcoming COCK-A-DOODLE-OOPS!
OR a picture book manuscript critique (for non-rhyming mss only) by
Cori Doerrfeld, author/illustrator of LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO and PENNY LOVES PINK as well as illustrator of many others.
- 3rd Prize is personalized signed copies of THE THREE NINJA PIGS and GOLDI ROCKS & THE THREE BEARS by
Corey Rosen Schwartz PLUS a $25 Amazon Gift Card
- 4th and 5th Prizes are your choice of any two of the following picture books PLUS a $20 Amazon Gift Card:
- THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG by Eugene Trivizas
- CINDY ELLEN: A WILD WESTERN CINDERELLA by Susan Lowell
- LITTLE RED WRITING by Joan Holub
- THE THREE LITTLE PIGS AND THE SOMEWHAT BAD WOLF by Mark Teague
- THE PRINCESS AND THE PEAS by Caryl Hart
- THE WOLF'S STORY: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by Toby Forward
- GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS by Mo Willems
- 6th Prize (which just skated in under the wire - thank you Sudipta!) is a personalized signed copy of hot-off-the-presses SNORING BEAUTY by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Today is the official release date of PLEASE, LOUISE. I have been buzzing with excitement all month and am thrilled that many of you have joined in spreading the word about the new book. To help welcome Louise into the world today, check out this fun birthday video! Congratulations to the contest winners. Thanks to everyone so much for sharing your stories and love of books, there were so many worthy winners. I hope that the book will inspire that same love for other young readers!
Sorry for the delay in choosing our winner. Congratulations goes out to Katie A., who picks up a copy of Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl. I’ll be emailing the winner in the morning. She’ll have 72 hours to respond with her mailing address before a new winner is selected.
Thanks to all who participated. I hope you’ll keep checking in to see what else is going on at The Children’s and Teens’ Book Connection.
There have been some contests here on the blog and I'm happy to announce the winners!
Liesl and Po Giveaway Winner:
This Is Teen: Guys Reads Giveaway Winner:
Congrats! I hope you enjoy your books!
WOW. You guys floored me. I mean the questions EACH one of you came up with are incredible. So incredible that if I knew all the answers I'd be set in this business! LOL. Seriously though, you really gave me some great stuff to chew on. So here's the deal: I (or a guest author) am going to answer all your questions to the best of my ability. I can't, unfortunately both answer these questions and give all of you critiques though. So as I said, I had to pick the top three. It was incredibly hard to do, and I'm still wishing I could award more, so maybe I'll have to do another contest too! We'll see...
The questions themselves? I will either devote an entire post or answer several at a time. But I expect this will take a while to get through. That means you'll just have to keep checking in to find the answers!
Oh yes. The winners of a first chapter critique are: Laura Pauling Bethany Yeager and Melinda Collins! If you'd prefer to give away the critique on your blog, you may do so.
I will post each person's link and question when I answer them. Check in on Thursday to see me tackle Laura's question. Until then I'll leave you with some great writing quotes so you can remember these three important points: 1. Butt in chair. 2. Imagination is key and 3. Challenge yourself.
If you haven't got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you'll only have to throw away the first three pages.
William Campbell Gault
When I examine myself and my methods of thought I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge. Albert Einstein
The grand prize winner of The Unwanteds book club/class pack of books is...
Heather from Buried in Books!
Congratulations to you and all the recipients of your pack of books. I hope you enjoy!
Many thanks to Heather and Danny from Kismet Book Tours for making this blog tour so fantastic for me, and for all of the awesome bloggers who worked hard to keep the tour rolling along. I feel very lucky to have been a part of one of your tours.
Let's hear it for these lucky giveaway winners!
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
menaamira
Shift and Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
TweetyB99
athenasgrace17
brandileigh2003
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
texdd1
idroskicinia
paradisified
bayayrea_munkie
sross12
hernandezcassandra50
Relic Master: The Dark City by Catherine Fisher
breakkanamexd
Family by Micol Ostow
hawkes
Congrats, everyone! Don't forget to click here to enter our July giveaways.
Congratulations to these May Book Giveaway winners!
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah E. Harkness
taylorzebrowski
athenasgrace17
THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA by Bianca Turetsky
silverlovejasmine
mimosastimulus
gabriellaonamission
taylorzebrowski
carlamrojas
THE CYCLING WANGDOOS by Kelly Pulley
ezimmerz
onion1128
tealskies
forever_tony_an
oganml921
drea70
jlongiaru
edysicecreamlover18
krae991
nobodysangel113
Congrats to our March Giveaway Winners!
The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie
murphykatt
zhoubluebear
kcmelone
bookaholic117
heather.p
Blood and Allegiance by Annette V. Hart
greekpatty13
lindadao2060
katie_loves_you09
liforda
adecicco3
Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town by Scott Neumyer
1superkris
traymona
bookgeeksrule
liforda
teacherkeri
drea70
kallosmango123
Heroes and Angels by J.M. Norwood
gbondi07
1superkris
koolkat25654
kawkes
wiesteria
By: AMY ~ ReadingTeen2,
on 3/7/2011
Blog:
Reading Tween
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Contest Winners,
Add a tag
In enormous lettering the first page warns: "Do not read beyond this page!" The reason? The book contains a secret so nefarious as to be dangerous even to innocent page-turners daring enough to venture forth. The first few chapters present a tricky little exercise in metafiction in which the story about a secret is revealed as being itself too secret to tell, a ploy sure to tickle more puzzlesome readers. But then the intrusive narrator, who is equal parts snarky and delightful, strikes a deal and deigns to tell the story with fake names in Your Hometown, as long as you agree to "forget everything you read as soon as you read it." Then follows a not terribly shocking story wherein two intrepid kids uncover a mysterious society bent on immortality, which gets them in and out of all manner of trouble.
Congratulations! We will email you.
February was an amazing month for giveaways -- we received a record number of entries. Thanks to all those who spread the word!
And now, on to the winners.....
These five winners will each receive a copy of BLESSED by Cynthia Leitich Smith:
ssmith
breakkanamexd
jbeckstead
talisker2000
maddie.mcphail
These two winners will each receive an IRON QUEEN Prize Pack:
blazesandbubbles
mar_vene4u
This winner will receive a signed copy of SELLING HOPE and some of Hope's Anti-Comet Pills:
leebee19
Congratulations to the winners!
Don't forget to enter our new March Giveaways: Click here to enter!
By:
Claudette Young,
on 2/21/2011
Blog:
Claudsy's Blog
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
interviews,
mysteries,
writing,
profiles,
MFA programs,
Writing and Poetry,
contest winners,
Charles Baxter,
instruction,
Bob Blaisdell,
Luke Reynolds,
Mark Wagstaff,
Stephen Delaney,
Add a tag
If you haven’t already read the February 2011 issue of The Writer Magazine, I highly recommending grabbing a copy of it and absorbing it from front to back. Not only does the reader learn about the latest contest winner and get to read a super-interesting new story, but there are also several lessons in writing that will hold their footing anywhere.
A profile that will grab your attention and hold it for as long as you have memory is one written by Bob Blaisdell. He writes about a little recognized writer by the name of Jorge Luis Borges.
This man who had almost no vision is described as “a thoroughly literary being” and from the examples given of his talent, I’d have to agree. He did things with words and concepts that I’ve never seen before. And now that I’ve seen those examples, I’ll never look at my writing the same way again. His one piece of advice for writers was “Let your imagination out to play.”
Though he’s gone now his writings and his examples will live on to inspire and instruct those who’ve come after. Be sure to study Borges’s technique as revealed in Blaisdell’s profile of this little-known author.
Mark Wagstaff’s prize-winning story is showcased along with a great little biography of the writer. The magazine also chose to annotate with the contest judge’s evaluation and reasons for choosing this story as the winner. This read shows much of what a current editor might be looking for in submissions in the way of style, tautness of structure, etc. There’s a lot packed into less than 2000 words here.
Literary fiction author, Charles Baxter does an interview with Luke Reynolds. Baxter talks about how writers need to remain true to their stories and the characters who live within them. Reynolds calls Baxter one of the contemporary masters of literary fiction. That’s a title hard to come by today. If you want to see how a modern literary author, with stories made into movies, thinks and works, this should be a can’t-miss interview for you.
Stephen Delaney takes the reader into the mind of the character by showing how to use the character’s thoughts to help tell important parts of the story as well as unveil character backstory, personality traits, physicality, etc. without having to use narrative in the usual way. His point is to show how to create the drama of a piece by using those thoughts. This was a great instruction piece and well worth holding on to, regardless of the genre involved in one’s writing.
There are more interviews, more instruction pieces, and oodles of extras that The Writer is so good at laying at the feet of writers. And if you can’t get your hands on the physical magazine, drop onto the website at: www.WriterMag.com/
Peruse the website and enjoy all the goodies available there. Sign up to get updates, if you wish. They come in handy.
And in case anyone wonders if this is advertising for the mag, I can tell you that they don’t need me to spread the word about their offerings. I just wanted to clue in those who don’t already subscribe or visit the site as to what they’re missing. This month’s issue is an especially good one. At least, for me it was.
Next time I’ll deal with another subject. Have a magnificent week, all. Until you drop in again, a bientot.
Claudsy
The winners of the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE Swag Packs are: sross12, britneywyatt, and peep6000
The winner of a signed copy of
TELL ME A SECRET is:
iggly
The winner of the
Manga Fan Prize Pack is:
sierraphantomCongrats, everyone! Be sure to enter our February Giveaways here!
Thanks to everyone who entered our Grey Griffins giveaway!!
The winner of the giveaway is:
JOSH
(Josh has been contacted by email)
Thanks so much to J.S. Lewis for offering this fantastic book for a giveaway! We hope you loved it as much as we did! If you didn't win, we encourage you to go out and
buy a copy
for yourself, or request that your library gets it! They're very awesome and will usually get books if you request them!
Thanks for playing!
.jpg?picon=3847)
By: AMY ~ ReadingTeen2,
on 1/24/2011
Blog:
Reading Teen
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
YA,
Clean Reads,
Author Interviews,
Witches,
Contest Winners,
violent,
A few of my favorite YA reads,
Amy's reviews,
Wizardry/Sorcery,
Were Creatures,
Add a tag
Winner's of The Devil's Kiss Novels
First Place (Devil's Kiss & signed Dark Goddess): Carol from South Africa
Second Place (signed Dark Goddess): Mariana from Brazil
Third Place (Dark Goddess): Marg from Pennsylvania
Congratulations!
I'm so excited, Sarwat Chadda author of the Devil's Kiss Novels, was so kind to answer some of our questions. Yes, they are quite lengthy. Do not fear, the answers read like a mini novel. So fans buckle up and enjoy the ride.
RT: Devils Kiss & Dark Goddess were so unique, how did you come up with the storyline?
SC: Devil’s Kiss came from a visit to a local hospital’s PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) and seeing all the babies in incubators and realising the worst nightmare of any parent is seeing their child die.
And that was God’s work. Didn’t He send down the Angel of Death to slaughter all the firstborn children of Egypt? What can justify such misery? I’ve always thought that utterly cruel, the Egyptians were not to blame for the enslavement of the Israelites. I’ve a big issue with those who feel they have God on their side, it’s just a recipe for trouble. Hence the villain in Devil’s Kiss is God’s right hand arch-angel. He thinks its’ his job to bring humanity back to the straight and narrow so intends to unleash the Tenth Plague, the death of the firstborn, on Britain.
Dark Goddess was inspired by all the fears about climate change, pollution and the damage humanity is doing to the planet. The dark goddess is an ancient witch, Baba Yaga, who’s decided enough is enough. If mankind won’t repair the damage it’s done, then mankind must go. It had it’s chance. Baba Yaga can control the elements and intends to create a global catastrophe, the eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano, and decimate the world’s population, to cull it, to more manageable levels.
I just like big scale, edge of your seat and high-anxiety type of stories!
RT: I watched a special on the History Channel about the Knights Templar, It was fascinating. What sparked your interest in the Knights Templar?
4 Comments on Interview with Sarwat Chadda & Winners of Devil's Kiss Novels Announced!, last added: 1/25/2011
Congrats to these winners of our December giveaways!
THE LOST SAINT
mimosastimulus
mariacarisoto
marjetabushi
chickenherder
adannabanana
SINFUL
stacedog01
ogan_mercede
findjessyhere
Margay1122
shaw.alannac
INCONVENIENT
loneil
michelleconner23456
naiareader
go.megan.go
magannguyen
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Chronicles of Narnia Giveaway!! It was a lot of fun! Have you seen the movie yet? It's pretty awesome!
The winner is (I will email you)
Tabathia Barrett
Congratulations! From Reading Tween!
The winner of NEED is:
The winner of MIRRORSCAPE is:The winner of SUBJECT SEVEN is:The winner of the Ellen Raskin compilation is:The winner of AFTER THE WRECK is:Congratulations everyone!! Email your snail mail address to solvangsherrie at gmail dot com and I will get your books out to you as soon as possible!
Happy Holidays!
click on image for giveawayThanks so much to everyone who entered our Emily the Strange giveaway!! It's been our biggest giveaway so far. The winner is:*drum roll* KRISTIE A.
(I WILL EMAIL YOU)The Reading Tween Crew
Congratulations, everyone! Don't forget to stop by and enter our December Giveaways for a chance to win THE LOST SAINT, INCONVENIENT, and SINFUL.
Our Rick Yancey Grand Prize Giveaway:
1 copy of MONSTRUMOLOGIST
1 copy of CURSE OF THE WENDIGO
1 $50 Visa Gift Card
And the winner is.....
foxsquirrelrabbit
Congrats!
THE MOCKINGBIRDS Giveaway winners:
anilicious
bookaholic117
cynthiareads
edda.p.manriquez
flychild7
hawkes
judo500
koolkat25654
librarianapril
mrsderaps
musicangelgurl101
readergirls
skellington28210
treerose
xenialok
STAR CROSSED: GEMINI NIGHT Giveaway winners:
cathyblackler
elena.delgado
hdianep
jasw209
judo500
khcrissey2008
meredithfl
oganml921
onebooktime
scadee
LABYRINTH'S DOOR winners:
jessyisawinner
krae991
rockman3
tink3rb3ll4404
treerose
View Next 23 Posts
.jpeg?picon=1639)
by 
.jpeg?picon=2450)
Congratulations to the winners. A nice treat for them when they are probably so busy thinking of gifts for others. Thank-you for hosting this an your other contests.