2008 Celebrating Summer Short Story Contest

Before I announce the winners of this contest, I need to make a statement about potential conflict of interest that can occur in a contest of this type. Although most of you do not know who I am, I know who many of you are. When I open a contest of this type, I have no idea who will enter it. I cannot run a disclaimer saying that my friends and family are not eligible because most of them do not know who I am and would not know they should exclude themselves. Also because if I excluded everyone I was friendly with, we'd end up with very few submissions.

In the past, I have had close friends submit their stories to my contests but things have always worked out in a way where I did not feel conflicted about judging their stories. This time, however, a conflict presented itself due to the very few number of submissions in the Published Author category. I did not feel I could be unbiased in this area. Therefore, I had an editor friend of mine select the Publisher's Choice winner in the Published Author category. She did not know the identity of any of the authors.

That said, it's time to announce the winners!



Readers Choice Published Author Category: Gracie's Blueberries by Trisa Martin




Publisher's Choice Published Author Category: Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails by Karlene Browning




Readers Choice Unpublished Author Category: A Fine Night for a Swim by Weston Elliot




Publisher's Choice Unpublished Author Category: When Life Hands Out Lemons by Melanie Jacobson




Winners: Please send me your mailing address within the next thirty days to claim your prize.



A very BIG thank you to the authors who provided prizes for this contest. I hope everyone who submitted a story took the time to read the sponsor bio page and to visit the websites of these very generous authors. If you haven't, please do so today. It would also be nice if you sent them a message letting them know you appreciate their generosity.

For those of you who did not win, if you want to take credit for your work, please identify yourself in the comments section of your post.