For everyone who didn´t win I ask you to not get disappointed and don´t despair, sometimes we win and sometimes we learn. We are all early adopters and TWB is one of the communities who can help us all to become better writers, if you didn´t reached out to them during this contest I strongly encourage you to do it, I can guarantee they´ll receive you with open arms.
I´m really glad it wasn´t up to me to pick a winner because believe me, all of the entries had their own magic and particular way of narrating their story. I´m confident some, if not all of you guys can accomplish great things if you decide to keep posting on our blockchain.
Anyway, I´ll leave you up with The Writers Block and the official Winner announcement.
The Writers’ Block is thrilled to announce our winner in the Blocktrades/TWB Steemfest Ticket Giveaway. The story that won is a beautifully executed piece of fiction that we are quite proud to have inspired!
Before we say which story won, it’s worth noting that two others gave it a run for its money. One of these stories is so funny it had our judges doubled over with laughter, and the other is so poignant that it stopped us in our tracks. For one of those, it came down to editing. The writing wasn’t quite polished enough to earn first place. For the other, it was a matter of story; we felt the winning entry had an edge on throughline because the character arc was better defined.
This isn’t to say the decision was easy. Some agonizing happened. We read some great stories. And we believe we discovered a brilliant new voice that we sincerely hope to nurture straight into mainstream publication someday.
The winning story is “Forward and Back,” by @jayna. Folks, this one had it all: great mechanics, great setting, great conflict, great characterization, and a great twist. Not to mention some great marketing for the platform! How Jayna managed to squeeze so much good stuff into this short-form fiction is downright remarkable. Congratulations, Jayna! See you in Krakow!
@negativer is one of the funniest human beings on the planet. He has a gift. He butchered writing technique so beautifully in his story “One Thousand Days” that he almost won on that premise alone. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many “Easter eggs” loaded into one piece of writing. And the pontoons? Lord have mercy. It’s worth reading for that alone. Poor @morodiene. But then again, you married him, honey. LOL!!! (We love you!)
@julietisrael rocked our world with “Frustrated but Determined.” This story is a raw gem, a glimpse into the struggles of a culture that has far too few voices rising from it. Juliet Israel’s voice needs to be heard around the globe. This story, placed into slightly different context and with the benefit of some editors, could publish in the mainstream. It’s that brilliant. Also…Juliet? We’ll be waiting for that novel….
We really have to mention @afolwalex, too. “The Ambitious Vocalist” is another story that captures the difficulty and determination of a very underrepresented part of the world. Again, mechanics and editing were an issue. But keep your eye on him, folks. This man has some stories to tell.
For all the others who submitted, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This was not an easy contest prompt, and the competition was fierce. We’d like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you to bring your stories (or any other fiction project you’re working on) into the Block and let our editors help with it. That’s the key. It’s the secret of publishing success and gaining a loyal audience. And it’s why The Writers’ Block exists!
THANK YOU, @anomadsoul and @blocktrades for putting this contest idea together!
Notes from anomad: @jayna, congratulations, I will be in touch with you very soon to get all the details sorted out, I´ll see you at Steem Fest!