Perhapablog

Monday, November 03, 2008

scary story contest: and the winner is...

okay...



well, i absolutely HATE being a judge in any contest, especially contests that involve creativity. i feel that EVERY artist (or writer--although i count them as artists also...) puts SO much of themselves into their work that it can't be anything BUT personal! and how do you judge a da vinci against a rembrandt against a van gogh against a picasso...? ALL of it is wonderful!

so, i made five of my friends do it...

and so here, having read through and collated their various notes and choices, is some of the feedback on our amazing entries. (there were all really good weren't they...?)

uriel's story/essay on cockroaches illicited some crawly responses...

mike's was noted as an interesting beginning...

one judge absolutely loved the historical nature of adam's hanging tale...

casey's tale drew comments for the romantic aspect of it and the power of love even over death...

gretchen's story about her grandfather made 2 of the judges cry...

jared's story got comments on both how well written it was and the spot-on pacing...

tagg's story--about the empty school and the janitor/ghost was easy for everyone to identify with...we've all been in deserted school hallways...(also noted was the freddy kruger factor...nice!)

christian's was noted as the most creepy, brian's just a bit too creepy...

ernie's story had unanimous comments for how very well-written and suspenseful it was (and was a very close contender for first place in a 2 to 3 split...)

but in the end, the judges choice for scariest story in our perhapanauts scary story halloween contest is...

Daisy Was a Good Dog by Warren Newsom!

comments from judges were that the story touched them more than the others (probably because of the dog...) and that the danger/threat remained unknown...and that's REALLY scary!

so congratulations, warren!!
though i have a picture of you from charlotte, please send a pic or two over for craig. oh, and your address--you got some stuff comin'!

thank you so much to EVERYBODY who took part in this more-fun-than-i'd-anticipated contest! you are all, as i've said, winners and every one of these entries helped to make our halloween season that much spookier! thanks!

i would also like to thank my 5 secret judges--and i will let their identities remain secret so that no one eggs their houses and so that maybe they might do this for us again... : )--thanks so much for your time and patience with me getting alla these entries to you! you made me job so much easier...

thanks to everyone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~HALLOWEEN~~
"five for friday"...
name that ghost!

1. which shakespeare play features the ghost of the protagonist's father appearing to reveal the identity of his murderer?

hamlet

2. what ghost psychiatrist counciled a young boy who could see the dead?

dr. malcolm crowe

3. who played the recently-dead, reluctantly-evicted ghosts adam and barbara maitland in beetlejuice?

alec baldwin and geena davis

4. who is the friendliest ghost you know?

casper

5. what was the name of the ghost that haunted heathcliff's broken heart in wuthering heights?

cathy


smell ya later!
todd


i am so trying to win this on ebay--boo!

9 comments:

Christian D. Leaf said...

Congrats, Warren! Nicely done.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Warren.

I too enjoyed reading them all, which is why I am so glad I didn't have to pick the winner.

I would like to say, "Well done," to everyone who submitted. Been too busy to come up with one of my own, besidesI was too intimidated by the awesomeness of these to even try to challenge.

catch you all next time.

Brian said...

Congrats, Warren, looking forward to seeing you around Bedlam.

As for the comments, I'm very happy with the too creepy assessment as that is what I was going for and I'm glad to hear that my little tale truly unsettled the judges.

My sweetie is not a fan of horror tales at all and, while I usually get her opinion on what I write, I kept her away from this one.

Adam Hutch said...

Congrats Warren! It'll be neat to see you in the Perhapanauts. This was a fun contest. Thanks for running it Todd.

Matt Wieringo said...

Alright, Warren! Congratulations!

Warren said...

Wow! I don't know what to say, except, thanks.

I enjoyed all of the stories and am humbled that mine was picked.

... all right, that last one is a lie. I'm not humble at all right now. My head's so big it hulked out of my hat. But that's only because all of the stories were so good and I didn't expect to win.

I'll get some pictures to you.

Wow.

Cooper said...

Congrats, Warren! And I agree, this was a lot of fun!

~ Wendy ~ said...

Congrats Warren !! Your story sure *was* a scary one. I'm not sure I can ever let my dog out on a night where the stars are shining bright.. *shudder*

Congrats to EVERYONE!! I envy you all for your wonderful way to put your thoughts into words so eloquently and frightfully (is that a word?)

Heywood Jablomie said...

Nice job Warren!!

Definitely was a hard choice, but the judges did good.

Congrats to everyone who entered!

That's a really cool Bart, good luck on it Todd!