We wanted to publish the results on the 15th this year, as that is the date of the Literary Lounge's second anniversary, but due to it being on a Thursday, we decided to move it one day. (Sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused.)

Either way, it's time to do the reveal!

First, let's give a round of applause to everyone who participated. We were very happy that despite the bleak future we foresaw, we ended up receiving enough entries in the end. Thank you to everyone who took the time to write something, and especially to those who rushed to finish just in time. We're all very proud of you!

As we've mentioned, there are no winners per category this time. Just a grand winner, a second place, and a third place.

It was really difficult to decide! We rated all the entries based on our three categories and the overall writing quality, but we didn't look at just that. We also looked at how the stories made us feel. We looked at the meaning. We looked at everything combined! Because sometimes a story scores high on technique but doesn't quite feel right, and sometimes, despite lacking in some areas, it just hits all the right notes.

These are all the categories:

Now let's reveal the winners!

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In third place, we have Strangers and Dragons, by NadineMcgee!

The judges had a lot of fun reading this entry. It scored high on plot and served up plenty of suspense and plot twists. It was fast-paced and mysterious, and who doesn't love a good assassin fight scene? There were a lot of loose threads in this one, but we felt they were reasonably tied up in the end. Nadine did a great job keeping this story interesting, and we're really thankful she managed to gift us with not one, but two entries!

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In second place, we have Ioche by zoe_grimm!

Zoe clearly spent a lot of time world-building for this story, and it shows. It was a tale of gods and war, love and beauty, and self-acceptance. Big concepts for a short story, but she managed to wrap them all up neatly in this small package. It scored highly on atmosphere, and once you read it, you'll understand why. As one judge said, it really "felt like it had soul to it." Thank you, Zoe, for always entering our contests, and for yet again writing TWO for us!

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Scoring highest overall and generating a lot of chatter amongst the judges, the grand winner of this contest is A Little Love For Pennies by -dreamsinwords AKA Mittu Ravi (with assistance from Fran)!

Written in a distinct style, with multidimensional characters, and a heavy sprinkling of Feelings, it left quite the impression on us. The MC was complicated, flawed, and relatable. The setting was realistic, and the plot was bittersweet. We cringed, we laughed, we cried, we cried some more...Everything about this story felt very human, and we loved it. Mittu really managed to let this story breathe, despite the short word count, and gave their characters room to explore, make mistakes, and grow. The plot progressed slowly but surely, and led us to a satisfying resolution. It was a pleasure to read, and we look forward to what will hopefully be many more stories from Mittu in the future.

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Thanks again to everyone who participated, to everyone in LL who kept the hype alive, to all the judges for taking the time to read all the entries and judge/score them, and to Haley (and Ielly) for all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Couldn't have done it without you.

Winners, we'll be in touch about your prizes.

Until next year!