Just this minute sent out the e-mails. Give it a couple of minutes, then check your e-mail. I’ll announce the results when I’ve heard back from the folks I notified. If I don’t hear back within 24 hours (from the time marked on this post), I’ll notify the next folks in line that they’ve won.
And the breakdown on how I did the judging:
I used the following parameters:
How well the entry addressed the theme: | 0-20 points |
How well the entry delivered its intended emotional response: | 0-20 points |
The grammar, style, and writing flow: | 0-5 points |
How many entries the writer had written: | 3 points each |
Popular vote points: | .5 points each |
In the judging, recipients actually ended up with between 15 and 20 points apiece for theme and emotional content — that’s why they were finalists. I didn’t make grammar and style a heavy factor in this, because it wasn’t the point. The entries needed to be readable and coherent, but they all were. Points on this ranged between 3-5.
Number of entries? I gave that a fairly heavy weight. Persistence matters a lot to me; I thought it should be rewarded. While everyone got 3 points for entering, a number of writers received between 6 and 9 points. While this was not THE deciding factor, it widened the point spread between a whole pack of entries that otherwise would have been tied.
Finally, the popular vote. I debated even having one, but I’m glad I did. It also helped to widen an otherwise-packed point spread.
By the way, I’ve already heard back from one of the winners. Waiting to hear from the other.
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