Our March Flash Contest was based on our weekly creativity prompt #142, asking contestants to stretch the limits of their imagination in order to write a story set somewhere they had never been. As always, selecting the winners was exceedingly difficult due to the abundance of quality work, but this month our editors were left especially in awe as three different pieces were also selected to be published separately on the blog. These writer’s comprehensive world building ability and infinite capacity for imagination were on display as we received submissions ranging from metafictional meditations on writing to poetic renderings of an encounter with a yeti to Frankenstein’s spinning in perpetuity! We thank all who entered this month’s contest and encourage everyone to keep submitting! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. And a special shout out to Lake Oswego, Oregon, Scarsdale, New York, and the state of Oregon as a whole, as four out of five of Winners came from these two cities and half of all entrants selected for recognition came from Oregon! Winners “Lost in Blocks” by Scarlet He, 10, Scarsdale, NY “Frank in the Galaxy” by Kimberly Hu, 8, Lake Oswego, OR “Underworld Adventure” by Rex Huang, 11, Lake Oswego, OR “The Legend of Mount Himalaya” by Audrey Li, 13, Scarsdale, NY “Complete” by Shriya Roy, 13, Highland, CA Honorable Mentions “Green Ivy” by Riya Agarwal, 11, Portland, OR “Somewhere” by Madeline Cleveland, 11, Belleville, WI “The Ice Jester” by Chelsea Liang, 11, San Jose, CA “Shipwreck in North Pole” by Roger Krishna, 6, Portland, OR “Unknown Train Trip” by Charelle Jan Ramo, 10, Hilo, HI Chosen for the Stone Soup COVID-19 Blog “Going Viral” by Ender Ippolito, 9, Portland, OR Chosen for the Stone Soup Blog “Life Inside a Staircase” by Arjun Nair, 9, Midlothian, VA “Spring” by Porter Younkin, 9, Medford, OR Scarlet He, 10Scarsdale, NY Lost in Blocks Scarlet He It was a sunny afternoon. A castle was growing in her heart. Julia slapped the last piece on the wooden castle, causing it to tumble to the floor. “Aw, man! That was the last piece… I’ll have to rebuild it!” Julia exclaimed, picking up a wooden block from the rubble of the oak wood blocks. Her mom daintily walked into the room, with a stern look on her face. “Julia, come have dinner, please. It’s getting cold.” “No! I’m not done building my kingdom!” Julia sighed and placed the block in an empty space, arranging it in a fashionable manner. Her hands shook as she grabbed another block. She wasn’t sure if her palace was going to fall another time. The castle gradually grew higher and wider, finally becoming a real tower. Julia’s elbow swung and hit bulls-eye into the tower’s base, down it came crashing, blocks flying through the air. “No… ugh! I’ll have to rebuild it. Again!” Julia whined in anger. She didn’t know why, but she was angry… for the thousandth time in her eight year lifespan, her head started to spin. Forgetting about her fumes, she panicked and scrambled around her room trying to get balanced. Everything spun. She felt as if she was skydiving out of the sky, but really she was just about as foolish as an octopus settling into a cup… she blacked out. Julia blinked and rubbed her head. She didn’t feel right, not at all. Towers of wooden buildings loomed over her. Had my kingdom grown in the past few hours? She had an odd feeling that overpowered the “This doesn’t feel right” feeling. She felt different. The weird thing was that this seemed a little familiar. She lifted her foot to walk around, but ho! It felt heavier and she immediately dropped it. It was the same for the rest of her body parts. She lifted her foot, and eventually got the hang of it. She started toward the gate, and walked up to a fruit market with her stomach grumbling loudly. “Hello, can I get a-” Julia asked, feeling around in her pockets. She had no money. She made a concerned face at the cashier, to let her know about her mistake. She realized the cashier was made out of wood! She had short twin-tails around her shoulders and circle glasses with no lenses. “It’s ok. I can give you a wapple for free,” the cashier said, handing her a shiny wooden apple that looked like a fusion of a pear and an apple. “Thanks… but where am I? I’m supposed to be in my room right now, building Barkanther!” “Barkanther? Why, you are near Barkanther! Actually, you ARE in Barkanther!” The cashier smiled. Julia’s eyes widened, and she stuttered, “Wait, what? Why am I here then??” The cashier’s eyes widened too. “That means you aren’t a citizen… who are you?” the cashier said nervously. She took a step back and adjusted her glasses carefully. Julia remembered her tantrum when she had accidentally knocked down the palace. She felt guilty, but good at the same time. The sun shone in her face, and wooden leaves danced in the cooling wind that blew Julia’s soft bark hair. She decided not to worry and focused on attaining this girl’s friendship. “Hey… listen. I’m no citizen from around here, but I want you to know that I’m kind.” Julia said in her most convincing voice. She was telling the truth, for once. She wasn’t a citizen of Barkanther. She didn’t even know where she was. “I believe you…. That you aren’t a citizen from here.” Esther said, stepping forward to munch on a wapple. Esther stepped out of her stand to face Julia, eye to eye. Then she exclaimed, “I can see it by the way you look. Come, come.” Julia looked around for a moment before following Esther. She spotted some citizens cooking some soft leaves over a lightbulb. Is this what they use to cook? Julia was bewildered, but reluctantly followed Esther down the sidewalk and passed by a few alleys. Their shoes
contest
Congratulations to our Book Contest 2020 Winners!
Winner The Other Realm, a novel by Tristan Hui, 14 Editor’s Choice Born on the First of Two, a novel by Anya Geist, 14 Finalists Earth Matters, a poetry collection by Benjamin Ding, 9 Oliver Garner and the Rebellion of Traitors, a novel by Liam Hancock, 12 Get Myself a Rocking Chair, a novel by Nora Heiskell, 12 The Trials and Tribulations of Swifty Appledoe, a novel by Ariana Kralicek, 12 Alternate Names for Autism, a poetry collection by Rainer Pasca, 14 Semi-finalists Journey with Wolves, a novel by Raya Ilieva, 10 Until the End, a novel by Ela Kini, 11 Falling Through a Cloud, a poetry collection by Summer Loh, 8 The Lost City, a novel by Sruti Peddi, 14 Poetry Collection, a poetry collection by Soheon Rhee, 12 Shapeshifted, a novel by Camille Rico, 12 Wow! For us, the shiniest silveriest silver lining of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders has been reading all of the incredible manuscripts that were submitted to our second annual book contest—it is clear that everyone who submitted was able to channel all that time at home into powerful creative work. Although we are only able to give official recognition to some of those writers, all of us were amazed at the attention and skill evident in every one of these manuscripts. Writing a book is HARD. If you submitted, regardless of the outcome for you personally, I hope you will take the time to celebrate your achievement. Our winning novel is Kansas by Tristan Hui opens when Azalea Morroe falls . . . into another realm—the realm her father claimed he needed to explore to keep his job at the astronomy lab. Though disoriented, Azalea is intent on completing her father’s quest in order to save his livelihood—and his sanity. To reach the perfect vantage point to view the night sky, she must cross an empty, haunted desert in a broken-down truck with a runaway 15-year-old as her guide. Their adventure ultimately forces us to consider what makes a home, or a family. In the end, we found we weren’t able to pick just one, so we will also be publishing another novel as an “Editor’s Choice”: Anya Geist’s Born on the First of Two. Maya has lived with her aunt in the Land of the Clouds for as long as she can remember, but she was born on Earth—and can’t stop dreaming about traveling back down to it. Earth was where her parents lived, and where they died . . . One day, desperate to understand the mysterious message on a necklace that belonged to her mother, Maya runs away—to Earth—determined to figure out her destiny, and her past. Both books will be forthcoming in 2021. We can’t wait for you to read them!
Weekly Flash Contest – final week August 24, 2020
Contest based on Monday’s Daily Creativity Prompt Every weekday morning from March to late August 2020, we published a Daily Creativity prompt. We decided to get everyone focused by turning every Monday’s prompt into a Flash Contest! For this rolling weekly contest, all you have to do is pick up the Daily Creativity prompt published on a Monday, and submit your response to it via Submittable by midnight PST on the Friday of the same week. Contest Details Genre: The Daily Creativity prompt will specify exactly what we want you to do. Make absolutely sure that you are responding to the prompt that was posted on the Monday of the current week by checking the date on the post. Find the prompt here. Look for the words “Flash Contest” added to the title (especially if you are looking on a different day of the week). Length: It depends on the prompt. Some of them will have specific instructions (e.g. write a 10 line poem, or a three paragraph piece of prose, or compose a still life photograph). Other writing prompts might be more open, suggesting you write a story or rework one you already have, or make a piece of art on a theme. Where the prompt specifies, follow the guidance on length and/or medium. If it doesn’t specify, it’s up to you how long or short you make your writing (but remember, this is a flash contest, so we don’t expect you to write a novel!). Age Limit: For the flash contests, we will accept work from those age 14 or under. Deadline: Fridays at 12:00 midnight (Pacific Time). Entry fee: Free! How to Enter: Via Submittable. Results and Prizes: We will select up to 5 of our favourites by the following Wednesday. Publication: We will announce the names of each week’s winners and any Honorable Mentions in the following week’s Saturday Newsletter; and publish the winners’ work on the Stone Soup Blog on the same day.
