🎄 ⭐️ ✡️ ❄️ 🕎 ☃️ 🎄
Well, hello there, my little cupcakes!
It’s Thursday, so you know what that means!
For starters, it means you’re a little confused!
This is the second time this week you’ve come to visit on a day I don’t post!
But that is delightful in every way because I am ALWAYS glad to see you!
And as it turns out, I kind of thought you might wander in, so I made you something.
Yes! I really did!
All by myself!
It IS the holiday baking season after all . . .
. . . which got me to thinking, wouldn’t we all like to know what kind of holiday cookie we are?
I mean, I know wondering about that keeps me up at night. . . !😊
The rest of the world may be busy figuring out their elf names or their reindeer names, but that is so last year.
You are so special that you are the ONLY people IN THE WOLRD who get to discover what kind of cookie you are! Check it out!
And now you know how I spend my time – thinking up cookie flavors and types, randomizing the lists, and employing canva to make festive charts. No wonder I haven’t vacuumed😊
Allow me to introduce myself: Chocolate Chip Crinkle Cookie!!! (which I think describes me to a T since I love chocolate and I am quite crinkly-looking now that I’m more than half a century old!😊)
So now that you all know what kind of cookie you are (please feel free to share in the comments!) you can all go off happily to your holiday whirlwind of shopping and wrapping and cooking and baking and traveling or tidying depending whether your visiting or hosting and etc, etc, etc!
Bon voyage!
See you next year!
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Tra-la-la…
Oh!
You’re still here?
Not that I mind, but . . .
. . . was there something you wanted?
Besides your cookie name?
It’s almost as if you’re hanging around . . .
. . . waiting for something . . .
. . . like . . .
. . . maybe . . .
. . . to find out who won
THE 9TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY CONTEST!!!
~ for children’s writers ~
As always, I was thrilled to see so many wonderful stories! Really! It is amazing and inspiring, not to mention VERY entertaining! There is just so much talent out there amongst you all!
But as you well know by now, with large entry numbers, all of high quality, 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, a few entries that barely missed being finalists, and many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another, or that the judges couldn’t reach a consensus on.
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: (entries we truly wrestled with not including in the finalists!)
Carmen Castillo Gilbert for Andres SAVES la Navidad (beautifully written with a natural interweaving of Spanish vocabulary and a lovely depiction of a grandmother/grandson relationship)
Colleen Murphy for The Recipe (beautifully written and poignant – a tug-on-the-heartstrings story with a hopeful ending)
Janet Smart for Ho! Ho! Ho! Yum! (fun and kid-friendly with a delightfully conscientious mouse 🙂 )
Sarah Meade for Claire’s Big Christmas Trip (we could imagine her special outing to New York City perfectly!)
Maria Antonia for Last Christmas Cookie (great portrayal of sibling interaction and a nicely executed twist ending!)
Lori Sheroan for Watch And Learn (an entry we loved for its beautiful setting and wonderful characterization done in very few words as well as its Appalachian folk tale flavor)
Deb Sullivan for A Great Treat (energetic, kid-friendly and fun!)
Kathy Halsey for Likin’ Lichen . . . Or Marshmallows? (fun and believably kid – favorite line: “Their eyes – how they twinkled. Their noses – So hairy. Their antlers – so tall and a teensy bit scary.” 🙂 )
Katrina Swenson for The Great Cookie Escape (original, creative and entertaining Point of View (the cookies!) very well written!)
Kelly Pope Adamson for Recipe For A Snowman (very creative – who knew you could make a snowman without snow?!)
2. For Fun, Well-Written Twists on Familiar Tales:
Brenda Covert for A Surprise For General Gingerbread (well written and fun, not exactly based on the tale, but the main character is technically a Gingerbread Man 🙂 )
Jill Lambert for Even Trolls Deserve A Treat (a kind-hearted twist on The Three Billy Goats Gruff)
Angela Verges for Cora’s Christmas Cookies (a cute twist on The Little Red Hen)
Stacey Miller for A Fairy Tale Treat (a twist on Hansel And Gretel with a touch of the The Three Little Pigs thrown in – favorite line: “A book of 101 Things To Make With A Turnip” 🙂 )
3. For Top Of The Naughty List:
Sarah Hetu-Radny for A Trickster’s Treat (that Ellery was up to every kind of no-good! – good job with character!)
4. For Poetic Writing and Original Format:
Tracy Curran for The Choice Of A Tree (lovely language, poignant story which she somehow wrote in the shape of a Christmas tree!)
5. For Excellence In Representing A Different Holiday Tradition: (not already in the Finals or All-Around HM)
Jyoti Rajan Gopal for Luscious Laddoos: A Sweet Story (wonderfully descriptive and mouth-watering!)
6. For Best Entry Based On A True Story:
Pat Finnegan for A Taste Of Peace (based on the Christmas Eve truce in hostilities on the Western Front)
Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com subject line Prize Winner to collect your award badge and prize, which is five dollars in a format that can be emailed for you to put toward something you’d like at a large online store (and I’m being cryptic because when I did this for Halloweensie I got a ton of problematic spam mail because of the way I worded the post, but hopefully you can figure it out. The store starts with the letter A 🙂 )
And now…
…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
The announcement of the WINNERS OF THE 2019 HOLIDAY CONTEST as voted on by you, our esteemed readers!!!
rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat
DDDRRRUUUMMM RRROOOLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
In First Place…
Winner of the whole shebang…
who gets first choice of all the prizes…
Rebecca Gardyn Levington
for
The Greatest Latke Topping!!!
Congratulations, Rebecca, on a fun, kid-friendly story written in spot-on rhyme with a delightfully humorous ending that was clearly very popular with a LOT of readers!!! It ain’t over til Ketchup comes to the table! 🙂
In Second Place
Laurie Carmody
for
All I Want For Christmas
Congratulations, Laurie, on a fun, kid-friendly entry that made us laugh at yet another use for the poor. much-maligned fruit cake 🙂 You get to pick your prize after Rebecca.
In Third Place
Kelly Kandra Hughes
for
Christmas Peach Pie
Congratulations, Kelly, on an entry that made us long for peach pie and admire your little main character for being willing to embrace the naughty list to get that pie! 🙂 You get to pick your prize after Rebecca and Laurie.
In Fourth Place
Sue Lancaster
for
Grandpa Ted’s Garden Shed
Congratulations, Sue, on a fun story about a holiday treat that wasn’t food!!! with a great ending that left us wondering what exactly Grandpa gets up to in his spare time… 🙂 You get to pick your prize after Rebecca, Laurie, and Kelly!
In Fifth Place… a tie! between
Kailei Pew Anne Lipton
for for
A Christmas Treat For Mama Vinarterta With Amma
Congratulations, Kelly, on a sweet story that embraced the true spirit of the season, and Congratulations, Anne, on a beautifully-written story full of lovely language that introduced us to a different holiday tradition! Great job both of you! You get to pick your prizes after Rebecca, Laurie, Kelly, and Sue… and we may have to negotiate a little (which is why I try to avoid ties, but when they happen they happen!)
In Seventh Place…
Lara Elliot
for
Gingerbread Family
Congratulations, Lara! We loved how Isabel found a way to make the best of things, not only saving the cookies but celebrating each member of the family for their uniqueness! I’m sure you get the idea of how the prize picking goes by now 🙂
In Eighth Place…
Gabrielle Cardwell
for
Biscuit’s Christmas Treat
Congratulations, Gabrielle! We loved that your story celebrated a dog’s POV of a Christmas walk through the neighborhood, and we felt like we knew Biscuit! You get to pick after Lara 🙂
In Ninth Place
Tracy Curran
for
The Gingerbread Sleigh
Congratulations, Tracy, on your mouth-watering entry written in excellent rhyme with a wonderful ending! You get to pick after Gabrielle 🙂
In Tenth Place
Brenda Whitehead
for
Christmas Eve Treats
Congratulations, Brenda, on a lovely entry that celebrated the love between a grandmother and granddaughter and came around to such a sweet ending where their roles were reversed. You get to pick your prize after Tracy!
In Eleventh Place
Deborah Bence Boerema
for
Christmas Kitchen Chaos
Congratulations, Deborah, on an entry that perfectly portrayed the way things seem to go in the kitchen this time of year with a lovely ending that showed it’s the who not the what that matters! You get to pick after Brenda!
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! (The sooner the better!) And for your convenience, the whole prize list is included at the bottom of this post.
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 huge round of applause and a Holiday Treat (see what I did there? 🙂 )
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, or by donating a prize. It’s because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
As I… hmm… maybe didn’t mention…? but seem to do every year so you’re probably not surprised, I’m taking a little blogging break so I can spend time with my family – I’ve got children to fetch, cookies to bake, Christmas presents to shop for and wrap, and my sister and her family arriving from Georgia! 🙂 So I will see you all in a couple weeks – most probably the first week of January 🙂
So now, I want to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday filled with love, laughter, joy, and family, and a happy, healthy and successful new year! It is a pleasure and a privilege to get to spend time with you all, and I’m happy and grateful to know each and every one of you!
Looking forward to all the things we’ll do in 2020!
Happy Holidays, and all best wishes for a wonderful New Year!!!
The Prizes!: OMG! So much awesomeness!!!
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Children’s Literary Agent Melissa Richeson of Apokedak Literary!!! Melissa will read and give a written critique of your picture book manuscript plus a 10 minute phone call to talk!!!
MG/YA First 1500 Words Critique from Children’s Literary Agent Melissa Richeson of Apokedak Literary!!! Melissa will read and give a written critique of the first 1500 words of your MG or YA manuscript!!!
Literary Agent Melissa Richeson
Melissa is currently looking to build her client list and is focusing on children’s book authors—picture books through young adult. She’s drawn to witty wording and whimsical design for picture books, humor and quick pacing for chapter books, charming mysteries or magic in middle grade, and fresh, character-driven stories in young adult. She’s not the best fit for horror, high fantasy, or graphic violence of any kind
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Art of Arc Writing Course from writer and editor Alayne Kay Christian!
Art of Arc is an independent-study picture book writing course. Most stories have some sort of arc. Many successful picture books are built around an arc. Understanding story and character arcs will help give your story order and the tension that will energize it from the beginning to the end. This energy will not only drive your protagonist forward – it will also drive readers to turn pages and keep reading.
The purpose of this course is to deepen your understanding of picture books written with a classic arc and to introduce you to many other picture books structures. The course also addresses a number of common issues that weaken a story and common writing mistakes that authors make.
Picture Book Manuscript Critique (rhyming or non-rhyming) from Penny Parker Klostermann, talented author of THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT (Random House 2015) and A COOKED-UP FAIRY TALE (Random House 2017)
Rhyming Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Dawn Young, author of THE NIGHT BAAFORE CHRISTMAS (WorthyKids 2019)
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Melissa Stoller, author of SCARLET’S MAGIC PAINTBRUSH (Spork 2018), READY, SET, GORILLA! (Spork 2018), and THE ENCHANTED SNOW GLOBE COLLECTION (chapter books) (Spork 2017)
Picture Book Manuscript Critique from Julie Abery, author of LITTLE TIGER and LITTLE PANDA (Amicus Ink 2019) and the forthcoming YUSRA SWIMS (Creative Editions February 2020) and LITTLE MONKEY and LITTLE HIPPO (Amicus Ink February 2020)
Book Bundle #1 – Nonfiction
Signed Copies of multiple star- and award-winning picture books
SONNY’S BRIDGE: JAZZ LEGEND SONNY ROLLINS FINDS HIS GROOVE (Charlesbridge 2019) and A PLACE TO LAND (Charlesbridge 2019)
and
A PLACE TO LAND: MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. AND THE SPEECH THAT INSPIRED A NATION (Charlesbridge 2019) by Barry Wittenstein
and BIRTH OF THE COOL: HOW JAZZ GREAT MILES DAVIS FOUND HIS SOUND (Page Street Kids, 2019) by Kathy Cornell Berman
Book Bundle #2 – Two By Tara Plus One
Personalized, signed copies of OPERATION PHOTOBOMB (Albert Whitman 2019) and I USED TO BE FAMOUS (Albert Whitman 2019) by Tara Luebbe
and a personalized signed copy of MOTHER TERESA: THE LITTLE PENCIL IN GOD’S HAND (Spork 2019) by Patricia Saunders
(Charlesbridge 2019)
Making A Living Writing Books For Kids: Tips, Techniques, and Tales from a Working Children’s Author – by Laura Purdie Salas
Please join me in thanking these very generous authors and other writing professionals for contributing their books and writing expertise as prizes by visiting their websites and blogs, considering their books and services for holiday or other gift purchases, rating and/or reviewing their books on GoodReads, Amazone, B&N, or anywhere else if you like them, and supporting them in any other way you can dream up! 😊
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Congratulations to all the winners. Happy Holidays! By the way, I’m a Ginger Biscotti
Thank you so very much to Susanna and the judges, those who offered prizes, and all the readers, writers, and voters. These delightfully fun contests are a highlight of my #writinglife throughout the year! From one Peanut Butter Biscotti to the rest of the cookie plate, I wish you all the Happiest of Holidays and Peace & Pages in the New Year!
Congratulations winners! And Happy Holidays everyone!
I’m a Rasberry Shortbread Cookie.
Congratulations to all the winners! Well done.
Happy Holidays everyone.
Congratulations everyone from Cinnamon Pinwheel! (I think I’ll have to find a recipe for that one.) And thanks, Susanna, for organizing this contest.
Thanks for the contest opportunity! I usually forget to enter in time. Although my entry “Oma’s Secret Ingredient” didn’t place, it did receive positive feedback from readers, which encourages me to polish it and send it out.
Happiest of holidays to everyone and to a much deserved break for Susanna!!
Thanks for the honorable mention; I am honored!! And congratulations to all of the winners (and all those who entered because you wrote!)!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WRITERS!!
Thank you Susanna, this is always a lot of fun!
Congratulations & happy holidays to all from a Red Velvet Lace Cookie!
Congratulations to all who jumped in. FYI, Mom is an almond snowball cookie and I am a caramel butter cookie. I’m pretty sure we like both those flavors, plus we have never met a cookie we didn’t love. And why do we always leave this site feeling hungry!!??
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Congratulations to all of the winners and to those who received an honorable mention! It was such fun to read the entries. I can’t imagine trying to choose the winners from this talented bunch of writers. Also thanks to all of those who donated prizes. Happy holidays from Red Velvet lace Cookie.
Congrats to all who shared their stories – because, really, anyone who puts pencil to paper (or hoof to keyboard) and completes a story… and is courageous enough to share it with the world… is a winner. Raising a mug of cocoa to all.
Congratulations everyone!
Many congratulations to the winners and to everyone who entered and wrote wonderful stories! Cheers to 2020!
Thank you Susanna for this and all the other awesome contests you give us, and for forcing us to stretch our creativity muscles with these prompts! I am SO honored and SHOCKED to have won “the whole shebang!” (I would’ve been happy with a quarter of a shebang, honestly! 🙂 But seriously, congratulations to EVERYONE who took this challenge and entered!!! SO much fun, right?! Happy holidays to one and all! xoxo
Rebecca Gardyn Levington
As a fudge butter cookie, I will now be going through life knowing I’m delicious, 🥰but fearing someone will try to bit me. 🤔
Congratulations to all the winners. 🎉🎊🎉
Congratulations to all the winnters! Excellent entries this year!
Congrats to all!
Congrats to all, and enjoy your break Susanna! You deserve it, thanks for a you do!
Thank you so much for hosting this awesomely fun contest, Susanna and for the Honorable Mention, I am…well…honored! 🙂
Wow, CONGRATS, everyone!!! Stay safe through the holidays 😀 Another great contest, Susanna ❤
Congratulations to all who participated! And huge kudos to the winners and honorable mentions. Plus a hearty ho ho ho thank you to Susanna, the judges, and the many wonderful prize givers!
Happy Holidays and may the New Year bring peace, love, and joy to all!
Oddly enough, I’m making biscotti (gluten-free) right now! But not peppermint. No, chocolate rules!!!!! Maybe I should make peppermint chocolate biscotti?! Congrats to all the winners!!!! I, too, LOVED that latke story! It has “submit now” written all over it! Cheers! Happy Holidays! And thank you, Susanna, for another fab contest. Thanks, also, to your judges and to those who donated prizes! Yahoo!!!!
Such a wonderful contest! Thank you, Susanna, for everything you do to better our community. Congratulations to all of the winners–I’m so excited to see many names I recognize in the list! Happy holidays from a peppermint Whoopie pie. 😉
I am a pecan crinkle cookie, if there is such a thing. I may have to invent it! (Can it be a chocolate pecan crinkle cookie?)
Congrats to all who entered, because you accomplished something even if you didn’t win! I’m tickled to have made it to honorable mention this time. Christmas is my favorite!
Congratulations to all the winners! And thank you so much for picking my Ho! Ho! Ho! Yum as an honorable mention story! I had a fun time writing it.
Congratulations to all the winners! Have a wonderful Holiday Susanna!