And the Winner is...

I am back after a couple of days away from the 'big city'. Sunny skies and warm weather (OK, it was 21C here today or 72F which is darn good for Newfoundland) made for some nice outdoor walking in the hills with my dog. The only drawback was the black flies. Not a single bite on me, but the greyhound didn't fare as well. The little blighters honed in on his 'tender underbelly region' the way Homer Simpson hones in on donuts. His parts look like they've got a bad case of the measles. But not a word of complaint from him. Good lad.

Back to topic. I'm here, of course, to announce the winners and honourable mentions in the recent Land's Edge flash fiction contest. As you probably recall, the only rules as such were a 750 word limit and the stories had to be a holiday theme. I must say, at times the judges had a struggle determining what the holidays were in the entries. We tried not to hold that against the entries too much.

As you can see in the photo, I've donned my tux again for this gala occasion. There are three things to point out prior to announcing the winners of this prestigious prize...and the recipients of the fine Newfoundland literature, of course:

1. My last minute begging appeal for stories, combined with the Tweeting by fine friends, resulted in quite a few last minute entries. The judges were pleased at the high quality and entertaining submissions. With that in mind, I will be announcing first, second and third place winners (recipients of book prizes) and also six honourable mentions. I'd like to thank every one of you who took the time to write these wonderful tales and enter them in the contest. I am sorry that I can't use all of them here, so please don't be offended if your story wasn't mentioned. As noted, the competition was stiff.



2. I'd like to thank the other two judges who 'blind read' all of the stories. Fellow islanders Laurita Miller of Brain Droppings and Ellen O'Toole of MyMentalPicture joined me in an evening of lively discussion of the stories submitted. There was hardly any wailing and gnashing of teeth. We had to narrow five very strong stories down to the top three and reach a compromise on the order. I must say that co-operation was the order of the day and my facial scars are barely noticeable in a dimly lit room. I likened their impassioned plea for their favourites to the beatings I used to suffer at the hands of my three younger sisters. But we're all still friends...they were easily placated with copious amounts of coffee, cheese danishes and caplin flavoured bran muffins.



3. Umm...my last point was so bloated and long-winded that I can't remember the third point that I was going to make. I guess I'm just a forgetful ass. Let's forge on.

One thing many know about me is that I hate to get dressed up in a shirt and tie. Since I'm in this outfit, I have to get a lot of mileage out of it so I'll start with a little joke...

This American, Canadian and Scotsman go into a pub...um, scratch that! Not very PC. *Looks in son's big old joke book* ...

To some, 'marriage' is a word ... to others, it's a sentence...Har!

Anyhoo...without further ado, the winner of the Land's Edge flash fiction contest is Mike Robertson of Columbia, Missiouri for his story Festival of the Lift. Second place goes to David Barber of Crieff, Scotland for his story The Millennium Princess and third place is K.M. McElhinny of Ohio for her story The Light and Shadows of Independence. I shall be in touch with the three winners shortly to get mailing addresses.

I shall post The Festival of the Lift tomorrow the 4th of July, The Millennium Princess on Monday, July 5th and The Light and Shadows of Independence on Tuesday, July 6th. In no particular order, the honourable mentions go to Pablo Gully and Cathy Olliffe (stories will be posted on Weds, July 7), Anthony Venutolo and John Wiswell (Thursday, July 8), and Michael Solender and Anton Gully (Friday, July 9). Thanks again to everyone that took the time to both write and submit such great stories . I invite everyone back this week to read the writers listed above.

Excuse me, must run and get out of this damn outfit!