Saturday, July 3, 2010

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!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Congrats to everyone!! Great pic...

David Barber said...

This has been a great week! Congrats to all and I'm looking forward to reading all the stories, although I know what happens in mine. :-)

Love the pic as well.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Fish flavoured bran muffins?
And you're getting black flies now?
Lordy... hopefully they'll be done by October.
Congratulations, everyone! Looking forward to reading the stories! Thanks for the HM, judges!

Terri Tiffany said...

Congrats to the winners! Love the tux!

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Lookin' hawt in yer tux, Mr D.

Michael Solender said...

Congrats to all and Thx Alan for hosting a fine fete!

Laura Eno said...

Congrats to everyone! You look dashing in your tux, Mr. Davidson. :)

Karen from Mentor said...

I was lured over from twitter with the promise of buttless chaps...but I have to say the photo of you in a tux didn't disappoint.

Looking forward to reading the entries. Congratulations everybody!
:0)

Cat Russell said...

Very nice!


I actually wrote a story for this contest, but stupidly forgot to actually send it. I think I'm going to post it for #fridayflash instead since I missed the deadline, but thanks for the inspiration!

Congratulations to all the winners, and Happy Holidays!

Laurita said...

Congrats to all. It was a pleasure to help judge this contest, as well as getting the chance to finally meet Alan. It was the most fun I've had in a dog's age.

Kara McElhinny said...

Thanks Alan, Laurita and Ellen for voting for my story! I'm super excited and happy to participate!!! Congrats to all of the other winners, I can't wait to read the entries!

Happy Writing (and Happy Independence Day for the peeps who live in the States!!)

Lee Thompson/Thomas Morgan/James Logan/Julian Vaughn said...

Congrats, Hinny!!!

Alan W. Davidson said...

Thanks all, for the comments. Especially the ones about me in the tux :0)...sort of makes me want to grow my hair long again and by a vat of Grecian Formula. Sorry...someone perpetuated a viscious rumour on Twitter about me and a set of buttless chaps. All lies.

Thanks again, Laurita and Ellen for the judging help.

Cathy- Sure, the blackflies will be gone by the time you visit...except for the ones wearing tiny sweaters.

John Wiswell said...

Looks like the turnout was better than you were worrying, Alan. Look forward to going up with Anthony. Congratulations to Mike.

Mike Robertson said...

... a bit late to this party, as usual. Thanks John - I'm a regular follower of your work. Huge thanks to Alan and Laurita and Ellen! Can't wait to read all the entries now.

Fox Lee said...

Huzzah to everyone who placed! : )

Ellen said...

Alan, thank you so much for allowing me to sit in and help with this contest. It really made my week. I hope you, Laurita and I get the chance to discuss writing again in the (near one one hopes) future.

Ellen

Katey said...

Congratulations to the winners and honorable mentions all!