Black Friday — it’s not just about shopping. It’s about worthy words winning. In other words, the time to reveal the 2012 Snakehead Writing Contest finalists is at hand.
Writing Contest Volume of Entries
We received a large number of entries. We were overwhelmed by the sheer number and quality of stories. There were few obvious stories to remove from contention even in the first round, so between that and the sheer volume of stories, winnowing proved to be a lot of hard work by a lot of volunteers. We appreciate the efforts made by all, and patience of submitters as our timelines got crushed.
We took all reasonable care to ensure that it was fair in every reasonable way. For example, we used report card rating systems, and the reviewers didn’t know the names of authors. Each story recieved multiple reads in each round of reviews, by different types of reviewers.
Writing Contest Winners
I know, who cares about the rules, right? Tell me who won! OK, ok, so, without further ado, here are the ten finalists* in alphabetical order:
‘Dead Woman Walking’ by (no username known)
‘For Gaia!’ by Nairdowell
‘Genesis’ by RatFink
‘Grynda Learns’ by MindSilk
‘I Am 8Bit’ by 8Bit
‘Low Treason’ by Colorless
‘Shadowfall’ by KillerFish
‘Sunlight’ by 3of4
‘Ten Minutes’ by Scatamonga
‘The Mining Job’ by Sanchez
(Please write if any info here is incorrect/missing, and we will be pleased to change it)
Each of these finalists will win $100, and be published in the StarCrash Short Story book that is being created by Snakehead Games. (Very likely we will be publishing this book as an on demand title through lulu.com)
Writing Contest – Next Stages
$1000! The top story, as decided by popular vote will win an additional $1000 and a 3D model of their favourite SHG Ship.
All the finalist’s stories will be posted on our website on Tuesday November 27th, 2012 at 12pm server time for your reading pleasure.
As described by the rules, the final round involves public voting so you have a chance to vote for your favourite story. The voting system will be ready on Thursday November 29th, 2012 at 2pm server time, so finalists: start gathering your supporters! Voting will only last for one week, ending on Thursday December 6th, 2012 at 2pm server time. Only one vote per computer will be counted, and you do not need to be a registered player in Star Pirates or Spy Battle to vote.
Thanks to all the submitters and good luck to our finalists!
* Note: The initial rules called for 5 or more semi-finalists. Upon review of official grammar, we have elected to call the semi-finalists finalist as well. There will still be one overall Winner.