JUNE THEME: WATER

You know what's really funny? This book, The Monthly Gemstone Awards, is eligible for The Wattys. Should we enter? 

Anyways, jokes aside, we had another great month! While we didn't have as many entries as the previous few months, I was very pleased to see works of incredible quality, as well as some very dedicated and hardworking judges: 

Buttertech - It was so nice having you back! I'm glad we could find books that you felt comfortable judging, and obviously, it seems like water is right up your alley! Thank you for being so quick with your judging, but also producing feedback of quality. Thank you so much!

GryffindorsLoneWolf - Look who it is! Our star judge! You, yourself, deserve some sort of award. You've judged for a third of the year for us - that's incredible! You're always so hard-working and give such incredible feedback. I have no idea what I would do without you. Thank you so much!

Marykhah77 - Thank you so much for judging for us this month! You handled the task like a champion, and didn't mind it when I very occasionally spammed you with questions. Thank you for being very receptive, and I really, really appreciate your hard work! 

lionobsession - It's always such a pleasure to have previous winners return as judges! Thank you so much for volunteering to judge for us - your judging was detailed and fair, and I really appreciate the effort and quality that went into them. Thank you so much! 

IzzBizz747 - Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to, not only review for us, but also to judge for us! You always kept to your word, and your judging itself is always very constructive and fair. It's so nice to have you as part of the community! Thank you! 

EmpressAri - Two times in a row, I think! Thank you so much for judging for us again - I really, really appreciate it. You even offered to judge more, if it came to it, which was incredibly kind of you. Thank you so much for your hard work!

NDeMeer - I was so incredibly impressed by your judging! Despite your already busy schedule, you volunteered to judge, and you got it all done well before the deadline. Along with that, your judging itself was wonderfully detailed! It's what every host dreams for, to be absolutely honest. Thank you so much! 

SamMacyLove - I cannot believe you volunteered to judge nine books! That has to be some sort of record. While it didn't come down to that, I really appreciate your commitment and the effort you put into your scores and feedback. It's so nice to have you as part of the team, and thank you so much for everything! 

And now, onto the results!

Now, before we continue, I will say that all books had a minimum of two judges scoring it, and some even had three judges scoring it. When I say the scores were really, really close, I mean it. All books scored over 70, and about five books were only four points or less away from third place. You all should be very proud of yourselves - I'm sure the judges can all agree with me when I say that the quality was incredibly high. 

And now, before we discuss the winners, we must congratulate our shortlisted authors! 

STORY: Crown of Roses 

AUTHOR: LennoxFields

FEEDBACK: 

Holy moly.... I'm a huge, immense fan of fairy tale retellings and yours amazed me! I haven't read one this good...well, in a long time! Your story's almost perfect! (I say almost because it was a wee bit slow and I'm a sucker for long chapters). Absolutely loved Ria; she's got a spunky, caring side that most authors never truly show well. Your dialogue showed the characters really well, the descriptions were subtle yet telling. I absolutely enjoyed reading this and am so glad to have found another book to add to my list of things to read!

TITLE: Grendilton: Rise of the Shadows

AUTHOR: amyrobinnz

FEEDBACK: 

Starting off, I love the cover design. It's a simplistic design, but the image really suits the story and the fonts are amazing. However, the word 'shadows' is a little hard to read, as well as your name. This is your story – you should be proud of what you've achieved and make your name bolder. Your summary is also very good, introducing the main characters and plot. I would, however, love a little bit more detail on the two main characters to really get me hooked into your world. 

Your writing style is great and well-suited to the story you've created. Each character is interesting and clearly distinctive from each other, both in their behaviour and in their speech. Punctuation, grammar, and spelling were, on the whole, pretty accurate. Sometimes, a semicolon or colon was needed instead of commas, but on the whole, you can tell this has been edited well. I loved the varied sentence and paragraphs lengths as they made everything flow nicely. 

The premise of the book itself was always going to appeal as magic schools and gifted children is always a popular read. I do, however, like your take on the trope as it still feels fresh and interesting. I know you're currently updating with edits and I would genuinely like to read more.

STORY: Wet

AUTHOR: avadel

FEEDBACK: 

Despite it being very short, I did love this book. The language and descriptions you used were amazing and the characters were very well displayed. Herald's father was obviously not very proud of his son, feeling he was quite childish for a ten year-old. Personally, I loved Herald and felt bad when Mr Bear drowned, I really felt it through your descriptions. The ending is also very... brutal. I did not expect that. But the way you laid it out was brilliant, one long sentence all jumbled up, which added to how Herald was feeling at the moment. In the very last paragraph, it just needed comma's between 'wetheavynasty'. Other than that, your grammar was perfect. This story was original, and I'd never read anything like it. Poor Mr Bear. Your descriptions of how he and Herald drowned were great, I enjoyed reading them

STORY: Cold-Hearted

AUTHOR: v3Olympus

FEEDBACK: 

I really believe that this story deserves all the recognition it can get and more. The life of water was described in so much detail, I felt as if it was really an animate object. It made me feel sympathy for nature and want to change, which is basically the motive of this story. I also like the way emotions were described and reasons were given. I basically was hooked on the journey of water, which I have studied so many times. The feelings of water could never be described better. One question though, author, are you sure you are a human and not a droplet of water?

STORY: Born in a Storm

AUTHOR: SouthMarie

FEEDBACK: 

I remember reading this some time ago for a book club or something else. It's changed quite a bit! Though it's still pretty...cliché. I noticed that Jaz and her don't hit it off right away and I'm glad you did that. But the descriptions of the boys are a little too...er, descriptive for someone who's acting disdainful towards them. I like that she's spunky, but the story was a little cliché for me. I think if you smoothed out the transitions between the areas of the story and lessen the amount of descriptions it'd be great! There were also several run-on sentences that could use a comma or a semi-colon.

STORY: The Bad Rainbow

AUTHOR: queen_of_sass

FEEDBACK: 

First off, the cover fully depicts the story so this is really good! Second, I know that this whole point of view is from a young dolphin, but you might want to use a little better vocabulary and sentence structure. I totally understand why you've used these, but starting sentences with Or, And, But and similar words should be done as little as possible. It is a short story, but may I say, a very short story. There is really not much plot, but when I finished reading it, I really loved the main point of overpowering pollution. You've expressed it so well and in such an amazing perspective. The dolphin's innocence was written well. Overall, take some time to check your sentence structure and flow. Watch out for too many short sentences and add some more bright descriptions of the world down in the ocean! Nice idea for a story and great job with conveying the innocent dolphin's experience! (I felt so bad for them...)

STORY: From Down Under

AUTHOR: Alana2215

FEEDBACK: 

I have to say that I loved, really loved reading what you have written so far. Determination, loyalty, and raging emotions have been clearly and purposefully used in your book. One thing to remember for you is to check your spelling. I noticed lots of "there" instead of "their" and more. Secondly, make sure to use apostrophes and watch out for words that should be capitalized and those that shouldn't. Anyway, I clearly understand what is happening throughout, so good job with an amazing plot. The one chapter with that depressingly evil woman was a but out of place, but it makes enough sense. Your descriptions are so vivid and captivating. The coral, the shipwreck, the castle area, wow! Keep on using those flowing descriptions. 

STORY: Witchhunt

AUTHOR: ferocities

FEEDBACK: 

The plot of your story was enticing and exciting. I love how you wrote your story in such a way that I've never seen before. It was refreshing, to say the least. Your story is a classic take on fantasy-meets-modern, but with many twists and turns that lead you down an inevitable path. An incredible read! 

The only thing that actual disrupted my reading significantly was the punctuation. Using commas before verbal tags and whether or not the phrase after the dialogue is a verbal tag is something I think you should run over. Character-wise, I think you need to go a bit more in-depth into Jonah's character. Have a moment where he just sits down and talks about himself. Believe me, Jonah can be a very interesting person if given the proper material. 

Again, excellent job! This was definitely a story I'll never forget!

STORY: Le Bonheur de Vivre

AUTHOR: dwionysus

FEEDBACK: 

The cover isn't a cover; it's merely a picture. There is no title and no author name. I'll admit I don't really understand the choice of not using capital letters. But that's even worse when you aren't consistent with not using capitals. I feel like there is too much description. There comes a point where details just feel a bit redundant. Try and leave some things to the reader's imagination. I also think it would be good to add how Elodie feels about things, rather than just having her observe them. This will help develop her personality a bit more. You do have some stunning Vocabulary on the other hand. The descriptions of the physical world around her are absolutely stunning. I feel like I've been to that island after only a few chapters! Wonderful job in that. The plot is also coming along nicely. I can tell what's about to happen, but you keep it off just enough to keep us guessing.

Congratulations to all our shortlisted contestants! And now, onto our winners: 

STORY: Call of the Water

AUTHOR: Emina_Rus

FEEDBACK:

First off, I love the cover, and it's very captivating. Second, you use great descriptions for scenes and situations. You describe what everyone feels and is doing, but also how they react to situations. One very strong point of your story is Opal. I think she gives the whole story a way to continue and flow. She also has very bold qualities, and so does Ardea, as we eventually learn. Remember as you write to describe physical things, like rooms, food, and nature. You did this well with the flowers outside their window, but try to use more descriptions elsewhere. Overall, keep using strong words and you have an amazing, original plot, bringing all the hidden races together!

SCORE: 85/100

STORY: Lions of the Sea

AUTHOR: MonicaPrelooker

FEEDBACK: 

First of all, WOW. I love the way your write, the rhythm, words, sentence structure... You had short sentences, long sentences, descriptions and tension. Your use of words was amazing. I love the characterisation, they are very clear. It's also very well written to see the difference between the time zones, especially (I feel) in chapter 5, about how Marina shouldn't be doing men's activities because she's a girl. But, the whole way through, I felt it. Amazing. The story line, also, is incredible. Your vocabulary, spelling and grammar is amazing. I'm pretty sure you wrote the original version in Spanish, am I right? It's amazing. 

SCORE: 87.5/100

STORY: The Elementalists 

AUTHOR: PZino1

FEEDBACK: 

The summary for this book was probably the best I've ever read. It gives a small excerpt from the story, but it quickly dives back to enticing you. It gave me enough information to know what to expect, but not enough to spoil the intensity—which is good! 

I found myself falling in love with the characters. I enjoyed reading them. What made it even better was that they had flaws. You can see how they grow fond of each other throughout the course of the novel. Friendships in books are often hard to master. In this book, I grew to feel emotions for the relationships. They all had their unfortunate beginnings, but in the end, that's what brought them together. 

The descriptions were executed very well. You described areas and places very colorfully (which I admire). Excellent job on that department. 

SCORE: 89/100

And that's yet another wrap! Congratulations to everyone - both winners and shortlisted contestants. This is the closest competition we've had thus far, and I'm so excited to read all these wonderful stories!

Next month marks the sixth month of The Monthly Gemstone Awards. That's right - we're halfway through a full year! Thank you to everyone who has supported me, especially my beautiful judges. The forms are already open for July, so please, feel free to sign up again - as contestant or judge. 

And, of course, I'm always ready to hear some feedback. Feel free to comment any feedback to me, or shoot me a private message on this account or my private account. I promise I don't bite!

Congratulations, everyone, and I hope you all had a wonderful month!