The 2014 March Madness Contest Winners!!!

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