At Short Fiction Break, we believe there are two groups of stars in every writing contest. The first group is obvious: all the writers who enter their stories, who bravely offer their writing for critique, judging, and publication.
The second group is less obvious, but equally important: the contest judges, working hard behind the scenes to read every story and select a handful of the very best.
Meet the Judges
In the last few weeks, we’ve celebrated the prizewinning stories and authors of the 10th Anniversary Writing Contest. Now, it’s time to celebrate the judges who made this contest possible.
Editor Allison Fairhurst
Allison Fairhurst is a fiction writer, a book coach, and a story nerd though and through. She studied Literature and Creative Writing at University. After graduating in 2012, she continued on her path to learn the craft of writing and editing through workshops, masterclasses, and many books.
Allison is a Story Grid Certified Editor and works with writers of many genres to craft books readers will love. Her own writing was most recently published on Lemonhound.com, in Bone Bouquet 5.1, and in Dirt Magazine.
You can connect with Allison at allisonfairhurst.com.
Author Jennifer Palmer
Jennifer Palmer is an electrical engineer by education, a stay-at-home mom by vocation, and a writer by determination. Before judging this contest, she was a contestant in previous Short Fiction Break writing contests: “Life With no LENS” was a runner-up in the Fall 2020 contest, and “Lost for Words” won the Grand Prize in the Spring 2021 contest.
In between diaper changes and reading lessons, you’ll find her running, writing a novel, or blogging about finding beauty in the everyday at choosingthismoment.com.
The Judges’ Expert Advice
In each contest, we offer writers the opportunity to hear directly from the judges why their story was or was not selected as a winner and what they can do to take their story-writing skills to the next level.
Together, Jennifer and Allison wrote personalized, expert feedback for more than a hundred writers in our 10th Anniversary Writing Contest.
Didn’t sign up for feedback on your story? There are a handful of common challenges many stories in this contest faced. Check out this article on The Write Practice for the most common weaknesses judges find in contests and how to fix them.
Congratulations, Writers!
Of course, no contest is complete without the writers who enter and the stories that win! We’re excited to celebrate the eight stories judges selected as the winners of this contest.
Grand Prize:
Time Capsule by Nona Nicklin
Runners Up (alphabetized by author):
The Anniversary by Helen Izek
Eating the Sun by S.E. Laughter
Honorable Mentions (alphabetized by author):
Some Sentences About My Sentence by B. M. Erlendsson
She’s Back by A. K. Lambert
Still, I Think of Him Every Day by G. Sanders
Finding Rachel by CC Sullivan
The Anniversary Train by Lisa Walton
Don’t miss out on these wonderful reads!
Want more like this? You can find the stories the judges shortlisted, as well as all the stories published in this contest, here.
More Stories to Come
We had so much fun in this writing contest, and we hope you did, too. Keep your eye out for our next contest, full of more exciting themes, supportive writing community, publication opportunities, and expert judging.
Until then, happy writing!
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