Hurray!
It’s Friday!
And you know what THAT means! . . .
. . .
It’s National Tortilla Chip Day!
It is! I would not tease you by making something like that up! If you don’t believe me, you can go check!
It is also the 178th anniversary of Mr. William S. Otis receiving a patent for the steam shovel!
And as I’m sure you all know, the invention of the steam shovel is of EXTREME historical import not because of stuff like the Panama Canal but because without it we would never would have had MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL! 🙂
(And did you know that William’s cousin Elisha thought up the elevator ?- those Otises were clever boys!)
Today is also featherweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 40th birthday, so we should probably have cupcakes 🙂
All around great day, wouldn’t you say?
Ok!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you all have a great weekend!
Oh wait.
I have this nagging feeling I may have forgotten something . . .
think. Think! THINK!!!
OHHHHH yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!
WINNERS!!!
Seems like maybe we have a few winners to announce, and prizes to give away! 🙂
We had a great turnout for the 2nd Annual Valentiny Contest – 117 entries!
I was thrilled beyond measure to see so many wonderful stories and meet so many new writers!
But with large entry numbers come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Monday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were well-written, entertaining and very enjoyable even though they might not have made the finalists for one reason or another (one reason being that, at a certain point, we just had to stop adding finalists to the list! :))
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole:
All the terrific entries on this longer-than-usual list were well-written and within a hair’s breadth of being chosen for the finalist list and were cut for the nit-pickiest of details and judges’ inability to reach a unanimous consensus!
Meagan Friedman for Bob’s Valentine Dilemma
Jill Proctor for Val N. Tine’s Day
Kimberly Delude for The Shape Of Love (also original POV – shapes!)
Leslie Liebhart Goodman for Showing Love
Anne Sawan for What Is Love?
Cathy Ballou Mealey for Something’s Fishy – A Valentiny Tale (also clever and funny!)
Molly Golden McDonough for Fiona’s Day (also likable/relatable character!)
Jim Jones for Balingtine Day Mix Up
Congratulations to the All-Around Honorable Mention Winners! Because of the outstanding quality of your entries, you are eligible for one of the 3 following special prizes should you prefer one of them to the regular honorable mention prize options below.
The Nuts And Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books by Linda Ashman (for Kindle), OR
Writing For Children And Teens by Cynthea Liu (paperback), OR
$10 Amazon gift card
2. For Fabulously Written Entry That Didn’t Seem Quite Confusing Enough But We Otherwise Loved:
Linda Evans Hofke for Punny Bunny’s Valentine Dilemma
Vivian Kirkfield for A Valentine’s Day Cake For The Queen (also great use of language!)
Ingrid Boydston for Oh My Darling Valentine
Kimberly Delude for Ways To Say I Love You (also very sweet for younger readers!)
Allison Alley for Inseparable (also original POV – 2 halves of friendship necklace!)
Penelope Aaron for Abuelita’s Valentine’s Day Surprise (also lovely incorporation of Spanish!)
Jana Locke for Vampy’s Val-o-ween
Christyne Elizabeth for Love Makes Me Sick
3. For Stories That Had Us Until The Ending (for one reason or another):
Terri Ross for Mr. Zombie’s Undying Love (also great character!)
Christine Evans for A Martian Valentine (also humorous!)
Although in other contests here prizes are often awarded for best character or humor or kid appeal etc, in this particular contest the entries that would have qualified were chosen for overall good writing, so we did not feel the need for the extra smaller categories.
Congratulations to all of you for your wonderful stories! You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com, subject line Prize Winner to collect your prize, which is your choice of one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they’re about)
Please email your HM prize choice within 2 weeks so we can wrap up the contest in a timely fashion 🙂
For Kindle:
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
How To Query An Agent Or Editor: A Children’s Writer’s Insider Guide From Mentors For Rent by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Getting Published: How To Access Editors: A Children’s Writer’s Insider Guide From Mentors For Rent by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
The Easy Way To Write Picture Books That Sell by Robyn Parnell OR
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To City Spaces by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Personal And Natural Places by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi
The Ultimate Fiction Thesaurus by Sam Stone OR
In paperback:
if you choose an item that has to be mailed, please include your snail mail address 🙂
The Six Senses In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Bleak To Bold Narrative by Jessica Bell OR
Adverbs And Cliches In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions Of Adverbs & Cliches Into Gourmet Imagery by Jessica Bell OR
Creating Extraordinary Characters by Angela Hunt, OR
Evoking Emotion by Angela Hunt, OR
Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard, OR
Rhyming Picture Books: The Write Way by Laura Salas and Lisa Bullard
Now then. A word about the prizes before I announce the winners.
We have 10 fabulous prizes, generously donated by authors and various professionals in the writing field. My policy is to let the first place winner have first pick of all the prizes, the second place winner have second choice, etc. That way hopefully nobody gets something they already have, and hopefully everyone gets something that’s valuable to them. All prizes are listed at the bottom of this post for your convenience in perusing the goodies 🙂 Since we had a problem with follow-through in the last contest, I’d like to ask that winners who choose a critique please be sure to use it within a month so that the professionals who are generously donating their time and expertise are not left hanging! 🙂
And now…
…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
…THE WINNERS OF THE 2017 VALENTINY CONTEST as chosen by you, our esteemed voters!!!!!
In First Place…
Winner of the whole shebang…
who gets first choice of all the prizes…
Kayla Prochnow
for
Love Bug
Congratulations, Kayla, on a fabulous entry that was all around well done, and clearly very popular!!! 🙂
In Second Place…
Ryan Roberts
for
Banana In Love: A Valentiny Knock-Knock Story!!!
Congratulations, Ryan!! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Kayla makes her choice.
In Third Place…
Heather Kinser
for
Valentine Crush
Congratulations, Heather! You get first choice of the prizes that are left after Kayla and Ryan choose theirs.
In Fourth Place…
Geoffrey Hyatt
for
Misaki’s First Valentine
Congratulations, Geoffrey! You get to pick after Kayla, Ryan, and Heather.
In Fifth Place…
Jilanne Hoffman
for
Cupid’s Heart Finds A Home
Congratulations, Jilanne! You get to pick after Kayla, Ryan, Heather, and Geoffrey.
In Sixth Place…
Katie Frawley
for
Valen-Rhymes
Congratulations, Katie! I’m sure you get the idea of how the prize picking goes by now 🙂
In Seventh Place… a tie!!! between
Colleen Murphy and Katelyn Aronson
for for
Sebastian, Say Something Lilla, Not Just Vanilla (A Tiny Self-Love Story)
Congratulations, Colleen and Katelyn! You get to pick next – we’ll negotiate 🙂
In Ninth Place,
Jen Garrett
for
Never Text A Valentine
Congratulations, Jen, on a humorous entry! You get to pick your prize after Colleen and Katelyn.
In Tenth Place,
Aileen Stewart
for
A Mixed Up Valentine
Congratulations, Aileen! You get to pick a prize after Jen!
And, I don’t think I need to remind anyone that in addition to all these fabulous prizes, everyone mentioned on this page has bragging rights as having won or placed in the 2nd Annual Pretty Much World Famous Valentiny Contest! Not just anyone can say that 🙂
All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! Finalists who did not finish in the top 10 (David, Joanne) may also contact me for their choice of the Kindle or paperback prizes listed above.
Congratulations again to all our winners – it was a stiff competition!! – and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a standing ovation, a glitter heart confetti parade, and a large amount of Valentine chocolate 🙂
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people’s stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It’s because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
Have a terrific weekend everyone, and thanks again for making the 2nd Annual Valentiny Contest such a smashing success and a wonderful time for all! 🙂
The Prizes:
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from “Dear Editor” Deborah Halverson!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from children’s literary agent Jodell Sadler!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from Andria Rosenbaum, author of the forthcoming Trains Don’t Sleep (May 2017) and Big Sister, Little Monster (September 2017) as well as others!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from children’s author Jodi McKay!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from Amy Dixon, author of Marathon Mouse, Sophie’s Animal Parade, and the forthcoming Maurice The Unbeastly!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from children’s author Jason Kirschner!!!
– A Picture Book Manuscript Read and Critique from Children’s Author Vivian Kirkfield!!!
– A Query Letter Read and Critique from SubIt Club founder Heather Ayris Burnell!!!
– a personalized signed copy of Jodi McKay’s delightful Where Are The Words?
– a personalized signed copy of Diana Murray‘s wonderful (and very seasonally appropriate!) Groggle’s Monster Valentine
Once again, please join me in thanking Deborah, Jodell, Andria, Jodi, Amy, Jason, Vivian, Heather, and Diana for their incredible generosity, and show your appreciation by visiting their sites, buying and recommending their books and services to your writer friends and/or friends with kids, writing them nice reviews on Amazon, GoodReads etc if you’ve read and liked their books, and showing your appreciation to them in any way you can! I truly can’t thank them all enough!
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Congratulations to all the winners. They were all fabulous! And congratulations to all the participants too.
Congratulations to you too, Linda! We admired your resourceful Mr. Cupidus 🙂
We love you, Susanna!
Thank you for a wonderful contest…a chance to exercise our writing muscle…and an opportunity to connect with this amazing kidlit community.
Congrats to all of the winners…and all who participated…I think there are the makings of some picture books here for sure!!!
Congrats on your story, Vivian!
Thanks so much, Susan. 😉 Ir’s always so much fun.
Thanks, Vivian ❤ So glad you enjoyed it! As for makings of picture books, Eliza Doughlittle has promise – loved the language – the teetering and tottering – so much fun!
Congratulations to the winners!
Thanks, Lauri!
A HUGE shout out to Susanna and the judges for all their hard work putting this together 🙂 Congratulations to all! Fabulous entries indeed!!!!
Thanks, Tracy 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the contest! We enjoyed Dolly, Duke and Darla! 🙂
It was REALLY hard to pick one to vote for! Great mid-winter fun, Susanna. Congrats, everyone!
Thanks so much for participating, Nancy! I’m glad you had a good time. And it WAS hard to choose just one – heck, it was hard to choose just 12 for the finalist list! So many great entries, yours included!
Thank you for doing this – It is surely a mountain of effort to organize a this contest. Reading all of the entries is a treat, but judging them is hard – and not to mention arranging all the wonderful prizes, and the details of managing all of that – please know it is much appreciated.
It is my first time sharing my writing like this, and I will certainly do it again. This is such an inspiring and supportive atmosphere, and the effort to sculpt a story within the size and topic requirements is a wonderful challenge. Again, thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the contest, Geoffrey. We loved your entry – so original and nicely written, and such a nice spin on the “confusion”!
Congratulations to all the winners! As always thank you to Susanna and her team on providing this fun opportunity, and all the time and hard work you put into it.
Congratulations to you too, Jean, on a your original and clever Poe-ian Valentine story. Thanks so much for being such a devoted supporter of all the high jinx and shenanigans around here! 🙂 (And thank you again for lunch! 🙂 )
A big congratulations to all!! Wonderful submissions!!
Thanks so much for reading, Dow! I’m thinking it’s about time for another illustrator contest… 🙂
Congrats to everyone! Fabulous contest!
Thanks, Maria! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hurray for Kayla and all the rest! Thanks for another great contest, Susanna.
My pleasure, David, and congratulations to you on a fun entry!
Congratulations to all the winners! Great submissions!
Thank you for reading, Pat! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Congratulations to Kayla and all of the contest finalists and other mentions! Thanks Susanna, and team, for another wonderful contest.
Thank you for being a part of it, Karen, and for your nicely written, true-to-kid take on Valentine’s Day which we thoroughly enjoyed!
Another fantastic contest!! Really enjoyed these stories and congrats to all the winners!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Jen! Thanks for reading!
Congrats to all the winners! Awesome!
Yay! Thanks so much for this contest! It was really fun, and I came up with a story that I wouldn’t have, otherwise. 🙂
Your story was terrific, Ryan! We all loved it! 🙂
Congratulations to everyone!
And congratulations to you too, Lynn! 🙂
Thank you Susanna! Congratulations to all the winners!
Thank you for being a part of it, Susan! We enjoyed your entry as we always do! 🙂
Thank you Susanna and your fellow judges – what an undertaking for you all.
And humungous congratulations to everyone. I loved being a part of the Valentiny fun.
So glad you had fun, Christine! 🙂
Congratulations to all! Love seeing all the winning stories but feel the way contest is run is a win all around! Was fun, created a blog I wouldn’t have otherwise done and a cute simple story that I and my readers enjoyed. And bonus-I learn something from everyone else’s writing!
Congratulations to you to, Lolo! We enjoyed your confused baby alpacas! And I didn’t realize you had just started your blog, but congrats on that too! I’m so glad you enjoyed the contest!
Congratulations to all honorable mentions and winners!!!!
Congratulations to you too, Traci, and thank you for being such a devoted supporter of all the high jinx and shenanigans around here! 🙂
Thank you, Susanna, and your team! And congratulations to all the winners! This was such a fun contest, and it was inspiring to read all the creative Valentiny stories. See you in the Spring!
Thank you for being a part of it, Jill, and congratulations on your fabulous story which you will be happy to know nearly caused physical injury amongst the judges during a knock down drag out fight over whether or not it should make the top 12! It was that close!
Congratulations to everyone!! I haven’t finished reading all of the entries, but I really look forward to it! Susanna, thank you for a wonderful and fun contest!!
So glad you enjoyed the contest! 🙂
Congratulations to all of the winners & those honorably mentioned! And another big thank you to Susanna & the judges, without whom this would just be another ho-hum National Tortilla Chip Day!
Congratulations to you too, Patricia, on another well composed entry! I’m glad you enjoyed the contest, and hope National Tortilla Chip Day came with plenty of non-ho-hum dip! 🙂
A very Valentiny congrats to all!
Thanks, Teresa! We missed seeing an entry from you! 🙂
Happy National Tortilla Chip Day! Oh, wait…..Congrats to all the winners! I feel very lucky and honored to be included in the list. Susanna’s contests inspire me to work even harder to improve my PB writing skills.
A big thank you to all of the generous people, Susanna especially, who donated their psychic energy and time, in addition to the many fabulous prizes! Thank you to everyone who makes this contest so much fun and such an inspirational community-builder!
Congratulations to YOU, Jilanne, on a fabulous and fun entry that we all loved! So glad you enjoyed the contest! May your tortillas have plenty of guacamole! 🙂
Congratulations to the winners and honorably mentioned. Thank you, Susanna and team, for bringing this event to the writing community 🙂
Thanks, Charlotte! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Congratulations to the winners everyone involved! Thank you Susanna for yet another spectacular experience! I’m thrilled to have been includd! I was wondering if mine would have enough of the confusion element but I had such a great time writing I can only be grateful. 😄 Till next time!
Congratulations to you, Ingrid! Your entry was fantastic and we all loved it!
Wow! Awesome stories! Awesome winners! Awesome prizes! Congratulations one and all!
Glad you enjoyed it, Norah! Hoping for an entry from you, next time around… 🙂
We’ll see. Working on one for Vivian’s Dr Seuss comp at the moment. 🙂
Congratulations to all the winners, and to all those who just had the guts to enter! 🙂
How right you are! Everyone really does deserve congrats just for getting their butt in the chair, writing and entry, and being brave enough to share it! Three cheers!!!
Congrats to all of the winners! 😀
Thanks, Erik! You’re going to have to come back one of these days and give everyone a run for their money! I still have fond thoughts of your holiday mishap story 🙂
Congratulations to the winners. Nice to see someone I know in person win too. =)
Susanna,
Thanks again for running the Valentiny contest. It was equally a pleasure to write a story and to read the wonderful, creative and very diverse entries. I want to give a grateful shout out to Jodi McKay, who as a prize generously offered a critique that I was fortunate enough to win. The critique was detailed, thoughtful, constructive, useful, honest and intelligent. I’d suggest to anyone who has a good story and wants to make it great to get her critique. http://www.jodimckaybooks.com/
Thanks again Susanna!
I’m so glad you had such a great experience, Geoffrey! Thanks for sharing!