Moonlight Picture Contest Official Announcement!

Another successful contest closes today at Writer’s Lounge. The Moonlight Picture contest was well received with 21 entries overall, 10 in prose and 11 in poetry. Today, we give you the much awaited results of this contest.

Before going on, participation in itself is very important. Without participation, there is no challenge at all. Thank you for making the contest a success!

Starting with the Reader’s Choice Award…

Many of you voted and the result of this award was very tight. In one category, there was a winner by just a single vote and the other category saw a tie for the win. We are pleased to announce Sandeep with 3 votes as the winner for prose while the accolades for poetry are shared by Shruti and Vinay with 2 votes each. They get these badges:

Before going on to the result, let me say something about the judges. Yes we had two of them because we got two entries in Hindi. As much joy as sadness, because the judge for Hindi chooses to stay behind curtains and not come out. We respect her decision. The judge for English was Amias, a prolific writer in both prose and poetry. She has written two books, Mind Locks and Liquid Plastic, and is the owner of the meme blog Acrostic Only as well. We thank both these judges for their time, and for helping us to decide the winners among so many wonderful works.

Let’s start with prose. We got ten impressive entries from the prose category and unfortunately we can have only one winner. We’ll get to who won it in a while. As in competition results, we start with the second runner up. The third place in prose goes to……….

Tan for “The Last Flood”

Judge’s Comment: This is a good story, but the sentence structure needs some work. The author allowed the photo to inspire, so the story does stand on its own. I loved the ending. The little girl was very protective of her grandmother. She didn’t lie to her, but she didn’t tell the truth either. Her answer to her grandmother can be categorized as a paradox. This story has lots of potentials. The story was true to the title.

Marks Awarded: 80/100

The first runner up… The second place in prose goes to………

Aarthi for “Glory In The Making”

Judge’s Comment: I like this story, and yes, it could use a little work too. But overall it is good. I like the title too. The story held its own without me looking at the photo, and the hope of little “Kirti” is in keeping with all children that have been abused by someone they trusted. I especially love the magical meeting of the little girl with the old woman, as I have had experiences like this before and it made sense to me. This was a very good read.

Marks Awarded: 95/100

The winner… The first place in prose goes to………

Any guesses???!!!

Yeah, you’re right!

Claiming his second award after Reader’s Choice, Sandeep wins!! “Kinginni – The Anklet”

Judge’s Comment: This was wonderful read. Need very little tweaking. Not only did I enjoy the story, it flowed, stayed true to the title, and stood along without the photo. Like I said, it needs a little work, but not much. Bravo to the author!

Marks Awarded: 100/100

Next, we go for the award for Hindi. We had 2 entries in Hindi, and the winner is Riya! “Kaun Hai Jo Mere Sapnon Mein Aata Hai”

She was awarded 75 marks by our judge.

Moving on, the final category of judging… writing poetry in English is no easy task. Still we had 9 poems entered in our contest. The judge went through every detail of the poems and decided the top three. The second runner up… The third place in poetry goes to

Shraddha for “Memories of a Romance”

Judge’s Comment: I get anger when a poem has so much damn potential and the poet doesn’t take the time to revisit it. Unnecessary words distracts from the poem. No, in the beginning it did not stand on it’s on, but the second stanza was ok. I wish this poet had used another word to replace “shimmering”, because the moon does not flicker. It does not twinkle, a star does that. The moon glows, it beams, but it does not shimmer.

Marks awarded: 65/100

The first runner up… The second place goes to

Freelancer for “When You Are Gone”

Judge’s Comment: I like this poem; it stands on its own without the photo, and it flows well. I like how the author formatted it, also the opening stanza caught my attention, especially with the rhyming. However, in the last stanza, on the first line, the word should have been “lights”, as the author is speaking in present tense.

Marks awarded: 95/100

And… The winner of English Poetry…

Princess Sonshu for “Take Me To You”

Judge’s Comment: This poem flows well and it stands on its own without the photo. I can feel the emotion here – that aching to be with the one you love --- the loneliness; hope.

Marks Awarded: 100/100

Thanks a lot family.It was only because of your overwhelming response and participation that this contest has become a big hit.Although it may not have reached the level of RDL and Inspiration contest,but this is a hit in its own way.Winner and Runner ups will get ebooks and they are required to write their email id in the comment section so that we can mail you the books.
Prose:
1.Winner gets Mario Puzio novels consisting of the "GodFather series","The Fourth K","Last Arena "etc.
2.1st Runner up gets "Alice in wonderland" and "The Monk who sold his Ferari" ebooks by Robin Sharma
3.2nd Runner up gets "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie and "By the river Piedra I sat and wept" by Paulo Coelo

Poem:
1.Winner gets "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown & "Twelve Red Herrings" by Jeffrey Archer.
2.1st Runner up gets "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelo and "Pride & Prejudice" by Jeffrey Archer.
3.2nd Runner up gets "Kane & Abel" by Jeffrey Archer. :p

Readers choice winners & Hindi prose winner will get "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers.

Thanks a lot Family!!We will be back with a new contest very soon and thank you to all who participated.Congragulations to the Winners and the Runner ups.
Love,
The Writers Lounge