I got an ulcer waiting for this post!
People have asked us why we release feedback the way we do. It’s because we want you to sit with it. That’s the short answer. The long answer is that both positive and negative feedback lands more gently if you don’t know yet if you won or lost. And regardless of if you won or lost, we want you to internalize that feedback. To know what our judges loved, and to consider working on what they suggested you work on so that like other YeahWriters, you can find another home for your work, a place where you can publish it and get all the eyes on it you ever wanted, not just our pro writer and editor judges.
But you’re not actually here for your feedback. 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?
- Don’t lose the easy points. If you’re in the final round, you have a whole lot less leeway to mess up on your title page, because points are going to be tight.
- Tell a story. Or at least go somewhere. Have a central theme. Don’t just stop writing at the end.
- Trust your reader. Don’t tell them what you just said; let them figure it out.
- Make your wordcount… count. Don’t use a lot of prefatory clauses or asides. Just tell the story you came to tell.
- Know where your story starts and ends.
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
$200
Addy Parker
Snail It Until You Nail It
Second Place
$150
Topher Danial
All the Things We Left Unsaid
Third Place
$100
KPF
Distortions
Honorable Mention:
- Jennifer Gunner – Fail or Die Trying
- Elle Symonds – And There You Are
Runners-up:
(in alphabetical order)
- Amanda Clear
- Anna Hiller
- Jayne Hunter
- Jennifer Elle Lewis
- Madeleine Pelletier
- Becky Swank
- Sara Stoutland
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.
