The Fairy Ring Flash Fiction Contest Winners

Despite some minor glitches with Blogger, I am determined to post the winners to our super-duper amazing Fairy Ring flash fiction contest.

This contest was held in honor of the release of The Fairy Ring by Mary Losure (Candlewick Press, 2012). Galleys have graciously been provided by Raquel Matos of Candlewick Press.

To qualify, entrants had to write a 300 word work of flash fiction about their fictional (or not) encounter with a fantastical creature. The entries were incredibly diverse: we saw stories of elves and faeries, unicorns and goblins, changelings and mermaids, ghosts, gnomes and killer fae that defied description.

Despite being 300 words, the stories were comical, tragic, silly, powerful, lyrical, dynamic, unexpected, horrifying and more. I strongly urge you, if you have not read all 54 of the entries (yes, you read that right), please go and click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the contest page. If you enjoy what you read, please consider commenting. A considered compliment is always appreciated.

Now, the prizes.

1st Place: A copy of The Fairy Ring and a 10 page edit by Anna Meade. They will have their blog link shared on the Google+ page of Candlewick Press.

2nd Place: A copy of The Fairy Ring and a 5 page edit by Anna Meade.

3rd Place: A copy of The Fairy Ring.

I have added a special category - the Yearning for Wonderland Award, the story that best communicates the idea of this blog. This winner will be awarded a guest posting on Yearning for Wonderland.

In closing, I must say that the caliber of writers in this competition made decisions practically impossible. If I had a dollar for every person who said 'Gosh, I don't envy you this decision', I could switch to blogging full-time. I am no stranger to tough decisions - I have cast theatrical productions and judged other contests - but this was a whole other level of splitting hairs on excellence.

Without further ado, here are the winners.

1ST PLACE: MATT LANNIGAN for "TRANSPORTED"

"Transported", Matthew's story is paced perfectly. He slowly builds dread; the reader senses something bad will happen to little Izzy, but can't help but go on. That is true craft. Also, who reading this has not lost themselves in a book to sometimes catastrophic results?

Matt wins a copy of The Fairy Ring book and a 10 page edit by myself. WOOOT!

2ND PLACE: STEVEN WATSON for "3 A.M."

Steven's entry took a classic backwoods cabin drunken love story and gave it a savage twist. Attention: it has a little sauce, for people who are bothered by that kind of thing...or for those who like it (PG-13). Not your grandfather's fairytale and that is why Steven has won a copy of The Fairy Ring and a 5 page edit by yours truly.

3RD PLACE: KERN WINDWRAITH for "GREEN GROW THE RUSHES"

Kern's excellent story was entry #54 and she linked it in, seriously, about 23 minutes before the contest closed. Not to encourage procrastination, but her masterful portrayal of childhood creepy set me back on my heels.  Kern has won her own copy of The Fairy Ring too!

YEARNING FOR WONDERLAND AWARD: DANIEL SWENSEN for THE DARKEST PART OF THE WOOD

Daniel's story deserves special mention for its perfect balance of darkness and poignancy. His prose grabs you; I defy you to stop before the last line. He has been awarded a guest post on Yearning for Wonderland.

I should also mention the winners of our FanFav contest on Twitter, held on the 20th. Everyone had three votes, which they tweeted. The FanFav contest closed when the Fairy Ring contest did. After the votes were tallied, here were the results:

FAN FAVORITE: RUTH LONG for "THE SCOURGE OF CLAN BETHMOORA"

Ruth won the vote on our Twitter contest! Her award was an illustrated PDF of her story, courtesy of the talented Tina Ramey. You can check it out here.

HONORABLE MENTION: MCKENZIE BARHAM for "PLEASE SEND THIS TO MY FAIRY"

Mckenzie is our youngest entrant at 16, though you certainly can't tell it from her sophisticated storytelling. She came in second on our FanFav contest.

Thank you so much for all those who entered, who promoted and shared. This has been a marvelous and humbling experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My gratitude is boundless. Thank you to Raquelle Matos of Candlewick Press, who offered the free galleys and triggered the idea. Thank you to Ruth Long who designed the Fairy Ring contest logo.