Contest Ends Tomorrow!

Posted bySusan K. MarlowPosted inContests and Giveaways

I think the image says it all. A lot of great entries are coming in, so I need to know what you all want me to do. Vote in the comments to help me out. I have not made up my mind on whether each judge from each age category should simply come up with the winner (and 2 runners up) or whether they should choose the top four in each age category and let you, the reader, choose the WINNER with a “Reader’s Choice” voting. We have done both in the past, and they are both equally fun!

If you choose “Reader’s Choice Voting,” you will have an opportunity to read more entries than if the judge chooses the winner and 2 runners up. Why is that? Because, since this is not a Circle C “fan fiction” writing contest, I won’t be posting every entry. It would not make sense to do so.

Note about Reader’s Choice Voting. There is always the off chance that one of the story entries ends up being “rigged,” i.e., somebody emails all of their friends and relatives to vote for their story without even reading it. That has happened one time in the history of my hosting writing contests. Which is too bad, since from now on, if I see an entry with an unusually high number of “votes” for a story (like 200-300, and the other stories have their normal 30, 40, or 50 votes each), that story will be disqualified.

If you choose “Judges’ Choice,” you will still read three in each category, and it will be the adults who choose the winning story.

Anyway, dear readers, the choice is yours (more or less). Let me know what you all would prefer.

And don’t forget! Tomorrow (Friday, March 22) @ 5pm Central Time, this contest ends. I am giving the judges a full week to come up with their choices (whether the winner or the top 4, depending on how this vote goes today and tomorrow).

Published by Susan K. Marlow

I'm the author of the Circle C and Goldtown Adventures series. I blog as "Andi Carter," the main character in the Circle C series. She lives on a huge cattle ranch in 1880s California. These are her adventures.

65 thoughts on “Contest Ends Tomorrow!”

  9. Everyone is saying readers choice lol, and I’m going to say the same, just because I am not sending a story in this time, so it’ll be fun to still have the ability to be involved 😊

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  11. Reader’s Choice, please!! Especially, since there has not been any FanFiction for the past 2 months. It’ll be nice to read plenty of new stories!!!

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  14. Even though it would be fun to read a few more stories I think that Judges’ Choice seems more fair since the stories are all about different things. I am actually fine with readers choice too 😋 but my vote is still Judges’ choice.

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  15. Ps. I started getting email notifications again but only when someone comments and not for new posts 🥴. Not sure why??? 

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    1. There are two ‘Sara M”s on here… I think that’s why Mrs M asked me above if I got the email notifications lol

      I’m Sara Grace Miller. 😀 Different then ‘Sara M’ who just commented here. ^^ 🙂

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    1. The difference between Readers Choice and Judges Choice is 2 extra stories for Reader’s choice.
      The judges pick the top 4 from each category. Readers do NOT read every story. I have already done that, and the judges will do that.

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    1. I hope you realize that you will NOT be reading EVERYONE’S story. Only the top four chosen by the judges BEFORE the Reader’s Choice, from the two age categories (so 8 stories at the most).

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  24. ( to be continued from the comment above this one) also think judges choice is a good idea to so that people don’t just read them and pick which one they prefer, for example, if they like mysteries, they choose the mystery story, but my vote is still definitely Reader’s choice.

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    1. Well, even the judges’ judge subjectively. My instructions are to go with the quality of the writing, the plot, etc., regardless of the genre (mystery, sci fi, etc.)

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  34. Judges’ Choice!

    Thank you so much, Mrs. M for hosting these contests!

    Also should I be getting an email from you saying you received my story? Just wanting to make sure I know what to look for.

    (The I’m posting this comment with for the fill out part, is the one I sent my story in with).

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    1. Well…. Contestants actually have to wait until I wake up and stagger to me computer and see if I can download the entry before I say I got it.

      Yes, some so not follow the instructions and send files I can’t open so….. It takes awhile to go through the entries, since most of them come in on the very last day….

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  39. I don’t know what to vote. I mean the difference between those is only one story! I guess I’ll go with judges choice, that way nobody’s tempted to “cheat”.

    Abigail H.

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    1. Oh, I’ll make it honest all right!
      The stories up for a vote will be hard to choose between because honestly, there are some really good ones! In fact, I have asked another judge to help out for the ages 14-18

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  41. It appears that the voting is going overwhelmingly toward “Reader’s Choice.” And (of course) most of the stories are coming in on the last day. It’s really hard to keep up with them, since I read each and every one before I tuck them away in the age category files.

    Either way, the judges WILL judge the stories. The only difference is . . . do you want them to pick the WINNER and two runners up, or do you want them to choose the top 4 or 5 and let YOU pick the final winner. Regardless, the judges are judging. They are just not choosing the TOP WINNER.

    I hope that makes sense.

    So far, the categories are very fair–numbers-wise. Equal amount of entries in both categories, so as not to overtax either of the judges.

    And newsflash: I have enlisted the aid of a fresh judge to help with one of the categories, since this is not (necessarily) a Circle C fan fiction contest (though it’s fine to write one, and I have received some really fun ones), and a fresh judge is good for these “open genre” type of stories.

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    1. Well, too late now. I hope you sent it in on time. I’ve sent the stories to the judges. 70 is a little on the high side, but I might have missed the words count when I looked the stories over. If you did not get a “reject” email from me by now, your story is safe!

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