A few things.

I know there are only two categories left, so it's likely frustrating to see just two categories take so long. Trust me, I feel the same way, though unfortunately, every time I try to sit down and judge, it seems like life decides to throw a curveball. First, I start getting cyber stalked across multiple sites (WP included) every day for over a month with threats to find my address (story time on this another day—can't say much about it for legal reasons), and then, when that situation is finally handled, just one week later, my close friend passes away.

So I haven't just been being lazy or something, I've been curled up in a ball regretting my life decisions. But I absolutely will finish this contest before the end of the year, and I've made good progress on both of the final categories, but especially best duo, so you can expect to see results for them soon. I appreciate your patience. I know it's only been a little over a month since I last posted results, which isn't really that long by awards standards, but this is a mini awards, so I was hoping to be done with it by now. So, thank you for being patient with me as I adjusted to the chaos that was thrown at me this last quarter of the year.

Secondly, my next awards will be publishing in December but won't be judged for a bit since it's a 2024-themed awards, and I want to give people a chance to publish their stories prior to the December 31st deadline (since it's a 2024 only awards), so I will post the guidelines as soon as I can.

I say this because for the first time since starting awards, I am looking for a co-host to help out, ensure judging goes smoothly, and just take on general responsibilities. It's not a hard role or anything that's going to be too demanding, and experience is not required or preferred, so newcomers are welcome!

I'm only going to be choosing one co-host for this contest, though anyone who is interested will be considered for other events and future contests as well (as you guys know, I host multiple contests a year).

If you're interested in co-hosting with me, I have a very short interest form for you to fill out. It's just to get a scope of your availability and why you're interested. Mostly multiple choice, so nothing complicated. It should take no more than 3-5 minutes at most to fill out. So, if you're interested to co-host with me, please fill out the form!

The link is in the external link, and since a lot of people are having trouble viewing it, I have also moved it to my bio!

Thirdly, in case you did not see my announcement, I am now streaming my reviews on Twitch. Obviously I still do most of my work off-camera, and I don't spoil any scores or results on-camera, but a lot of people ask me about my judging process, so I thought I'd start streaming it.

So if you're interested in having a discussion about your work (you can request me to review it, and as long as I haven't reviewed it already, I'll take a looksie), looking into how I review books, or just want to chill since it's a relaxing stream you can have on in the background (I speak quietly and have soft music playing), then I suggest heading on over to my Twitch, which is Ravendipity.

Next stream will hopefully be Friday, 11/29. Tomorrow for me but today for a lot of people. Likely in the mid-day, like noon in EST, which I believe is around 10:30 p.m. IST.

Anywho, that's about all. Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions!