We both want to thank everyone who entered the contest and to congratulate all the entrants on their writing skills.

Winners are to be congratulated too, of course. They were chosen by a panel of four independent judges, who were all published authors. Each judge scored every story without knowing the names of the authors, giving up to 20 points for each of five elements of good writing: plot, character, continuity, aesthetics, and grammar.

Ten days later, each judge was asked which story he or she had liked best, overall. No judge chose the story he or she had scored highest, using the score sheet writing criteria. No two judges chose the same story as their "personal favorite."Knowing that, we just couldn't resist giving those four stories "Judge's Choice" awards, because they were chosen according to each Judge's personal taste

This was our first contest, and we both want to say how pleased we are with the quality of the work represented here. Some of our winners are well-known writers. Kris Neri has been nominated for many awards and had her first two titles, Revenge of the Gypsy Queen and Dem Bones Revenge, chosen for book club publication. Robert Legleitner has not one, but two books up for "2003 Eppie" Awards. For others, this is their first published work.

Newcomer, or old-timer, we have to say all the stories score high on the Reading-for-Entertainment scale.

Enjoy!

Best,

Sandra List and Arline Chase