It’s a long road
There’s a lot that goes into making a Super Challenge. There’s finding judges who meet our standards: editors, authors, educators, and professionals who really know what they’re talking about when they read your work and give you feedback. There’s figuring out how to award prizes, maximizing what we give out while still keeping the lights on over here. There’s coming up with prompts that engage writers and readers alike. And then there’s you.
If you’re reading this, we’re excited to have you with us. And if you’re reading this because you made it to our shortlist, we want to take a minute to congratulate you on that. It was an amazing field (we honestly wouldn’t just say that; it doesn’t help you in the slightest as a writer or a person) and our judges were waiting with bated (not baited, ew, that’s for fish) breath to see what you did with the prompt. And now their results are in and tallied and we’re ready to announce the winners of our fifteenth Super Challenge! Winners, you’ll also get an email confirming your details so that we can send your prizes to you.
We hope you’ve had as much fun writing as we had coming up with the prompts. It’s always a challenge to come up with ideas flexible enough to give you the room to express yourself creatively but tight enough to challenge and inspire you. Once again, anything that went right is entirely due to our admin team’s untiring work behind the scenes, and anything you hated was probably Rowan’s fault. Unless it was your feedback. Hating feedback is basically your emotional duty as a writer. Sit with your hatred for a minute, dust yourself off, and edit that essay so that you can pitch it to a market that excites you!
Enough about you, let’s talk about me
Just kidding. You’re here to find out who the winners are. So with no further ado, here we go:First Place
$175
Rachael Elliott
Just a Migraine
Second Place
$125
Rosie Clemo
Hungry
Third Place
$75
Susan Walker
The Geometry of Daughters
Honorable Mention:
- Elizabeth Candido – Better Shoes
- Melinda Hagenson – What Granny Never Knew
Runners-up:
(in alphabetical order)
- Grainne Armstrong
- Renee Boyer
- Cindy Cook DeRuyter
- Anna Hiller
- Jen Mierisch
- RC Nath
- Dani Nichols
Congratulations again to everyone who entered. Our judges said it was a challenging group to score, because nearly every story stood out in one way or another. Hopefully you’re finding your feedback useful and relevant!
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Writers, if you don’t have your feedback, please send us an email at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me, ’cause that email should have reached you on Wednesday.
Now that this round of the competition is over, you’re free to post your work anywhere on the Internet you like, or take our judges’ suggestions and rework your submission to send on to other venues. We’ve also made this special grid for you to link your work to if you like:
About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
