Ok then, here we go. Let's talk about the Pokemon Watty Awards 2019. This year I was both a judge for Short Story and a competitor in Oneshot with my entry, Champion of the People.

It was my first time judging in the awards, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've done judging before for GRA tournaments, but those are oneshots written in like a week, I had no idea what kind of standard to expect from a Short Story that people had a whole year to write. I also had no idea how busy I'd be during the judging period so I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to read through and enjoy the stories or if I'd just be in a mad rush to get my judging done.

I think overall, the standard of entries was pretty good. There were definitely some that I didn't like that much, but even those entries had good things about them and I could tell that each author had at least tried to do something. There was nothing half-hearted about the entries and I really appreciated the hard work from all of the authors.

Of course, there were some entries that tried to do something and were very successful. I had a very hard time ordering my top four and I think that any of these could've won. These authors should be very proud of what they did. (I've ordered these comments in the order they were eventually ranked because I'm not sure I'm supposed to reveal my own personal rankings)

Lost Among the Thorns by ImberLapis - This entry is just rock solid. It's really well written, the setting is wonderfully described, the plot is damn near impossible to nitpick and the pacing is really solid as well. It's got good emotional beats and works really well as a simple short story.

The Leader by blue___22 - I love the sheer simplicity of this book and its execution is also excellent. It takes a simple concept and doesn't try to overcomplicate it and make the stakes unnecessarily high when the interpersonal conflicts are enough to carry the story. The plot is solid, the structure is brilliant and the pacing is so perfect it makes me want to cry.

The Gospel of Cynthia by Fire_of_Saint_Elmo - This is absolutely stunning. It's got a totally unconventional structure and is very weird as a story but it just works because it's so interesting, so intriguing, so thought-provoking and so engaging. The author was ambitious and tried something different and they managed to produce something incredible. They deserve a lot of credit.

We Need Insurance?! by d_s_t_e - This entry attempts to be humorous. And succeeds. That's pretty much all I need to say. I'm not sure I can really give higher praise to a book of this nature.

So, well done to all of these authors. These entries were a cut above the rest and all made for fabulous reads, even though they were all very different from one another. I was especially glad to enjoy Imber and Blue's entries since I've been critical of their works in the past. Obviously, I'm a critic but I don't enjoy reading a book, not liking it and having to criticise the author. It made me so happy to enjoy these entries.

I  think the key to short stories and oneshots is simplicity. You don't have the time and space to create something complicated like in a full-length novel, so you have to find a concept and stick to it. A simple concept executed well will always work in this format and the entries that I've listed here are proof of that.

Ok then, let's talk a little more about me. I first entered the awards in 2014 but was forced to withdraw when I didn't finish the entry in time (I only had 1 chapter left but the book sucked so it doesn't really matter). I next entered in 2016 with New Moon Academy: Warriors of Darkness which did not place, nor did it receive any special awards. The last time I entered was in 2017 with Zam the Hybrid which placed 5th in Adventure as well as picking up the special award for Best Humour.

So, there's some steady progress there in terms of accomplishment I guess. Oddly enough, I seem to do better the less I expect. I thought I was gonna win the whole thing in 2014 and I didn't even finish the book. When Zam placed I was totally surprised because I never wrote that book with the intention of being good, I wrote it purely for myself.

Yet still, for some reason, it became a big deal in my head. I really wanted to win. I was so nervous on the night. When I found out my placing I was genuinely happy, but when I talked to people more and had reviews for the book, I became very frustrated because I realised how close I was to winning. But it wasn't frustrating because of anyone else, it was my own stupid mistakes that were my downfall. I was the only reason I didn't win and even though I never expected to win, I felt like I'd let myself down.

This time around, I wanted to try something just a little bit different. I wanted to write something that really meant something to me, something I could really be proud of. I wanted to write a book with an underlying message, a message directed at me.

I've always wanted to write something Pokéathlon related. In fact, that book I wrote in 2014 had a Pokéathlon scene in it. I've just always loved the feature in HG/SS, it's one of the big reasons why those are my favourite games and I have genuinely spent hours and hours and hours playing the various minigames. It kind of surprises me that nobody else has written about it, at least to my knowledge, especially given how much potential stories about sport have.

I love sport. One of the things that I love the most about sport is the stories that it creates. Watching sport is essentially reading a book but you have no idea where it's going to go so the most amazing things can happen. There's heroes, pantomime villains, unbelievable drama, tension and thrilling climaxes. I like how there's always two sides to everything in sport. Someone who you view as a villain is a hero to someone else. As a writer, it's like having everything gift wrapped for you. You just write about sport and all of the pieces just fall into place.

I tried to capture the excitement and tension that dramatic sporting climaxes can bring. I tried to make the final race engaging, I wanted to pull people in, I wanted people to be yelling at their screens, rooting for Magnus and I wanted people to be devastated when he lost. It's really tough to make people feel all those emotions when they've only known the character for such a short time but I think I did a pretty good job, I was really happy with how the race turned out.

At the end of the day, Magnus had to lose. I knew that right from the start. I think that him winning would've resulted in a story that was fine, it would've been ok. But it just would've been a bit safe, a bit boring and I don't think the underlying message would be as powerful. The ending is what really makes the whole thing work and come together.

I said that this book was a message to myself. I essentially wrote this as a reminder that winning is never the most important thing. It's great to have goals and it's great to work as hard as you can towards them but when winning becomes all that matters, you've lost sight of the important things. You become so focused on winning that you forget everything else going on around you, you forget how much you've actually achieved to reach that point in the first place. I've won a few things in my life. I've lost many, many things in my life. Win or lose, I've always found it important to reflect back on the things I've accomplished, regardless of the result.

So, with Champion of the People, I wanted to write something where winning the PWA wasn't the most important thing. I wanted to write something that I could be proud of no matter how well it did and I am genuinely proud of the piece I created so as far as I was concerned, that was enough. I was already happy.

Of course, when I write a book about winning not being the most important thing, I end up going on to win the thing. What a wonderful twist of irony.

I knew I was in the running. I knew I'd written something that was at least half decent, and the two people who'd read it seemed to like it. But I'd also read all of the other Oneshot entries and there were quite a few that I thought were really good. A Pokémon's Purpose by JunieWeathers is literally the cutest shit, What He Told Her by Rosa950 was honestly fascinating and I also thought The Struggle by Torterra657 was really interesting. These guys all did a great job and I would've been completely fine with any of them winning, or any of the other entries for that matter. So I'd already accepted that whatever will be will be. I'd tried my absolute hardest, had come up with something I was proud of that was already enough.

I obviously wanted to win and I'm buzzing off my tits that I did. I'm so thankful to everyone who read the story, to everyone who voted for the special awards, to the judges, to everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I really, really appreciate it. I'm not very good at taking compliments, I get all awkward but right now I'm smiling so much and I'm just so happy. Thank you.

I retained my Best Humour award (would've been interesting to see how this would've went down had Maple not disqualified herself) which is cool since that's kind of the only thing I'm even remotely good at. I also won Best Ending, which was a huge deal since the ending of the book is literally the most important part and I won Best in Show which is incredible and I never expected to win that in a million years. Although that award was based on a formula, a formula that I actually created about ten months ago, so if you really think about it, I basically rigged this whole thing.

I think I need to give Maple massive props for the way the stream turned out. It was easily the cleanest, most professional stream yet and the hours of hard work she put in are clear to see. Also, I made her life harder by swearing about a dozen times and she had to edit it all out. The best part of the stream was definitely the Best Display of Perseverance Award, won by Eeveelover22. This felt like the most important award of the night, an award that rewarded hard work, dedication and perseverance, an award that was all about trying your absolute hardest and improving and seeing the results. I don't know this author at all and I still feel so happy for them, so congratulations.

Congrats to every winner this year, to me for Oneshot, to Maple for Short Story, to Cora-chan for Adventure and to Imber for Miscellaneous. You guys all deserved everything you got.

I think I've covered everything I wanted to say. Thanks for reading whatever this was and genuinely thank you to everyone who read and supported my entry. Thank you.