Out of Control
You’re here to find out who won the Super Challenge. And as you scroll down, looking for your (or your friend’s) name, you’re probably wondering the same thing that anyone who enters a contest is wondering: what makes a winner a winner? What were the judges looking for, and why did this story do better than that one?
What makes a story great is a nebulous thing. But what we can tell you is what doesn’t.
- The most important thing ever. Especially in personal essays, we hear a lot of wondering: this was the biggest or most important day of my life, why wasn’t it important enough to win? But stories aren’t judged on their content so much as on how they’re told. That’s how a story about a squirrel eating corn by the side of the road can outperform a story about saving the universe with a single well-timed billiard shot. It might be the most important thing that ever happened to you, but if you can’t make it important to the judges, it’s not likely to win.
- Proofreading errors. We often field questions about “why don’t you publish a winners’ anthology?” And we’re considering it. With that in mind, stories that are four or five copyedits away from publication, with typos and missing words and verb tense errors, are less likely to make the cut. Don’t lose the easy points: proofread, and get a proofreader to catch the errors you can’t.
- Emotions. Especially big emotions. Which doesn’t mean don’t put emotion in an essay, but it does mean the essay has to be about more than just the emotion. It’s wonderful to feel good, and there’s value to bringing big feelings to the world through your work (including the sad ones) but emotion is less likely to carry you to the winners’ podium in any contest than engaging storytelling is.
Still got questions? We’re considering a fall panel where our editors answer, so let us know how you feel about that in the Coffeehouse on Facebook or Discord.
In the meantime, 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. “Are we limiting this piece to this competition, or giving the writer a chance to come up with a story or essay they can work with later” is always in our minds. We hope we’re doing as well for you as you did for us a couple weeks ago.
Once again, anything that went right is entirely due to our admin team’s untiring work behind the scenes, and anything you hate is probably my fault. Unless it’s your feedback, because hating feedback for a month or two and then sighing and working with it to make the piece better is every writer’s bête noire.
Fanfare, please…
I’ll quit chattering. You’re here to find out who the winners are. So with no further ado, here we go:
First Place
$250
Madeleine Pelletier
Dummies Raising Goats
Second Place
$175
Sanchana Venkatesh
A Therapist’s Grief
Third Place
$125
Danielle Dayney
Spilt Milk
Honorable Mention:
- Duane Rygh – The Lights of Vaudeville
- Amanda Myers – Don’t Should Yourself
Runners-up:
(in alphabetical order)
- Kris Livingston
- Kate Macolini
- Jennifer Palmer
- Frances Turner
Congratulations again to everyone who entered. Hopefully you’re finding your feedback useful and relevant! Personal essays are some of the hardest work to receive feedback on because it feels so, well, personal. If you’re not ready for your feedback yet, try walking away from it right now. Set a reminder and look at it again in a month or so, or get a trusted reader to help you make the connections or see if it’s fair, even if you don’t like it or disagree with a decision or suggestion. In the meantime…
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 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. If you get published, don’t forget to drop us a line so we can cheer for you!
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.
