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Once our judges were through with their ratings, we saw that there were a large number of ties in the top ten, most notably, a four-way tie at first place.
We had made no reference to tied places in the contest conditions. But all our calls for submission focused on the top prize being available to one winner, and the advertising and PR implied this as well.
Contests must have winners, we decided — ties are commonplace for lower positions but on the whole the conventional wisdom is that there needs to be a winner of a contest. For instance, in Olympic boxing both defeated semi-finalists get a bronze medal (they're tied) while the winners of the semi-finals slug it out for gold and silver.
So we applied a simple method to separate the tied results. In every instance of a tie in the Round Two top ten, the Round One scores were factored in to break the tie.
The entries were close enough to still have ties in some of the lower positions, and we're going to let those stand. But yes, now we have an absolute, undisputed winner!
The prize-winners' names are hyperlinked to their LJ pages, so you can drop by to congratulate them. :)
1st
Manisha Anand - Story 232
Rs 19,999
Joint 2nd (therefore equal share of 2nd & 3rd prize — Rs 16,000 + Rs 12,000 = Rs 28,000 / 2 = Rs 14,000 — with no 3rd prize)
Arantxa Bharatiya - Story 121
Rs 14,000
Ajay Krishnan - Story 526
Rs 14,000
Joint 5th (therefore equal share of 5th — Rs 4,000 / 2 = Rs 2,000 — & 6th — LJ Paid account — with no 6th prize)
Rithwik K - Story 618
Rs 2,000 + LJ paid account for one year
amruta patil - Story 95
Rs 2,000 + LJ paid account for one year
7th
Yashodhara Angara - Story 642
LJ paid account for one year
8th
Meena Rukmini Menon - Story 177
LJ paid account for one year
Joint 9th (so no 10th prize)Rs 2,000 + LJ paid account for one year
amruta patil - Story 95
Rs 2,000 + LJ paid account for one year
7th
Yashodhara Angara - Story 642
LJ paid account for one year
8th
Meena Rukmini Menon - Story 177
LJ paid account for one year
Rahul Soni - Story 948
LJ paid account for one year
Sharath Chandra Komarraju - Story 479
LJ paid account for one year
People's Choice Prize
To be announced. (Here's why.)
Caferati Jury Special Prize:LJ paid account for one year
Sharath Chandra Komarraju - Story 479
LJ paid account for one year
People's Choice Prize
To be announced. (Here's why.)
Saikat - Story 222
Rs 10,000 + LJ paid account for one year
(This story will come as a surprise, since it didn't feature in the list of stories eligible for the People's Choice Prize. This story was good. very, very good. All the judges, in both round of judging, enjoyed it very much and rated it so highly that it was in line to receive first prize in the contest. Alas, when Caferati and LiveJournal did a review of the results, we had to admit that it didn't have a connection to the "Journal" theme, and therefore should have been disqualified in fairness to the other participants. However, since the story had got such high marks, and had won the hearts of all the judges, Caferati's editors decided that it should not go unrewarded. So, they are sponsoring a special Jury Prize, on behalf of Caferati, Samit Basu, Anjum Hasan and Anita Roy. And LiveJournal has also decided that excellent writing skills should be recognised, and are adding on a one year paid account for the winner.)
Caferati Editor's Prize:
Madhulika Liddle - Story 442
Rs 4,000 + LJ paid account for one year
(Caferati's editors read and rated over one thousand stories to come up with the short list. There was huge variety, much originality, and many that were a sheer delight to read, standing out from the crowd. From all of those, this is the story that got rated highest in Round One of the judging, the one that Caferati's editors decided they wished to reward by sponsoring a special Caferati Editors' Prize. LiveJournal is also adding to the prize by giving the winner a one year paid account.)Rs 10,000 + LJ paid account for one year
(This story will come as a surprise, since it didn't feature in the list of stories eligible for the People's Choice Prize. This story was good. very, very good. All the judges, in both round of judging, enjoyed it very much and rated it so highly that it was in line to receive first prize in the contest. Alas, when Caferati and LiveJournal did a review of the results, we had to admit that it didn't have a connection to the "Journal" theme, and therefore should have been disqualified in fairness to the other participants. However, since the story had got such high marks, and had won the hearts of all the judges, Caferati's editors decided that it should not go unrewarded. So, they are sponsoring a special Jury Prize, on behalf of Caferati, Samit Basu, Anjum Hasan and Anita Roy. And LiveJournal has also decided that excellent writing skills should be recognised, and are adding on a one year paid account for the winner.)
Caferati Editor's Prize:
Madhulika Liddle - Story 442
Rs 4,000 + LJ paid account for one year
And finally, the Winners page on the Quick Tales site is now public. As are all the scores.
November 19 2008, 02:02:48 UTC 3 years ago
Congratulations
Congratulations to all the winners. However, Still can't understand how a story can be complete without a title, which seems to be the case with most of the winning entries.November 19 2008, 03:42:56 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Congratulations
To be honest with you, Tap, I agree with you. Strictly speaking, the title is a very important part of a story, and no story is complete without a title.I suspect the reason why we see so many entries without a title is because in the rules, there was a sentence to the effect of: "The word-limit is inclusive of the title (if you choose to name your story)", which suggested that there are no marks for the title. At least that's how I interpreted it :-/
Having said that, though, if I could enter the competition again, I would give titles to all my stories, even if that would probably mean I have to lose a word or two in the narrative.
(Moderators: apologies if I have stolen your thunder by replying to this before you)
Sharath
November 19 2008, 02:58:28 UTC 3 years ago
Is it possible to get comments on the finalists as well? Or did you guys write them down JUST for the winning entries?
And by extension, is it possible to get comments on ALL the competition entries? Or did you guys write it down just for the finalists? :-)
Just let me know if I am being too greedy :-/
Sharath
November 19 2008, 07:12:31 UTC 3 years ago Edited: November 19 2008, 07:13:09 UTC
This is a Title.. A comment follows. :)
Ah, I think I side with you on this hope..It would be a really good experience to be able to read through the comments on each of the stories. It would give us a better understanding of the judges and how their brains work. :)
By the way, that little thing about titles.... I guess it holds true most of the time, but not always. Some times, just the lack of a title can act as a title in itself. :)
However, in all fairness, the stories I read in this contest.... They look sad without titles. :(
November 20 2008, 13:24:44 UTC 3 years ago
November 19 2008, 08:45:09 UTC 3 years ago
November 20 2008, 13:10:53 UTC 3 years ago
Were u there? We didnt meet!?
sepia
November 19 2008, 08:50:25 UTC 3 years ago
November 19 2008, 13:36:38 UTC 3 years ago
congrats, winners! :)
November 19 2008, 18:23:41 UTC 3 years ago
Thanks, Caferati and Live Journal. This was fun. :)
November 19 2008, 23:14:38 UTC 3 years ago
November 20 2008, 13:22:34 UTC 3 years ago
1. Please allow readers to comment on all the submitted stories. Commenting is an LJ tradition. I've read a few stories off the livejournal.caferati.com website and I'd love to leave a comment for the author.
2. Please link each story to the LJ id of the author. When I like someone's writing, the next thing I'd like to do is look at their LJ page for more. Currently the stories are robbed of identity, if you are going to publish someone's work, at least credit them for it.
Nice work otherwise, congrats to all the winners.
November 28 2008, 14:58:40 UTC 3 years ago
Going to do that.
The top 134 can be accessed already at http://quick-tales.livejournal.com
Yes, they've been only marked through the entry-numbers, and that was done to i) facilitate the poll, and ii) keep the short-list anonymous till the final winners were out.
Soon as we have the database sorted, they'll all be up. Or we could have the members post their oen entries. Co-ordinating this even as i reply to you.
sepia
February 2 2009, 12:04:09 UTC 3 years ago
Other Prizes
Hi! You had mentioned on my blog that there will be a certain announcement regarding some other prizes. Is there going to be any?November 20 2008, 20:01:38 UTC 3 years ago
Complaint
Hi Peter/Manpreet,I don't know why I didn't voice this earlier, and I don't know how many of the participants feel like I do, but the 'Special Jury Prize' irks me a little. I am not debating whether the story is good or not - because I know it's purely a matter of taste, so this is not an attack on Saikat. He got a prize, and congratulations to him.
But what I don't understand is how a competition could give a prize (ANY prize) to an entry that sidesteps a fundamental rule of the contest, which in this case is ignoring the theme. The reason you have given - that it is a very, very good story - is irrelevant. Even if it's the next literary masterpiece, it ought to have been eliminated on the grounds of ineligibility. A cursory honorary mention would have sufficed. Something along the lines of, "There have been a few entries that we really liked, but have been eliminated because they didn't stick to the theme."
By giving the story a prize, are you not being unfair to all the other competitors who went to the trouble of weaving the theme into their stories? Who knows? If all of us had written a story each that did NOT have to have a connection to the theme, we would probably have written stories that were 'better' than Saikat's. If you were going to give such an award away, the least you could have done was to announce it beforehand so that all of us had an equal chance to grab at it. As it happened, Saikat's story was effectively competing with a handful few (if not just with itself) that you must have received that neglected the theme.
Now if all the entrants that are not part of the winning list feel they've wasted their time sticking to the theme while they could have written much better stories (and could have even been awarded!) if they'd simply not bothered, can you blame them for thinking so?
And more importantly, how far will this go?
For instance, if you ask for an essay on terrorism, and I give you a beautifully-written essay on a cow, will you give it a special prize just because you liked it?
Pushing it a bit further, if I submit a brilliant poem to a short fiction contest, will it stand a chance of getting an award on the grounds that it was the 'best poem' of the lot?
You see my point, surely.
This is a little confusing. If a story is ineligible, it is ineligible, no matter how much you like it, and no matter how good it is. If you feel bad about it, apologise to the participant, explain to him the reasons, and move on. But a special award?
Don't get me wrong. Ultimately, it is YOUR competition, and you have complete authority to give away as many special awards as you want, but giving one to an ineligible entry, I thought, was pushing it a bit. I am not suggesting you should take back the award from Saikat (for that would be a little harsh on him), and I don't know how many of the people here share my views on this, but I thought I should voice my displeasure all the same.
There, I am done :-)
Sharath
November 21 2008, 03:30:12 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Complaint
I do share Sharath's view on the issue of the special prize.It comes across as an emotional decision- and human beings have been known to be that way!!
cheers
kc
November 28 2008, 09:52:45 UTC 3 years ago
Thank you LJ & Caferati. And congratulations to each and every one of you! :)
December 10 2008, 07:38:19 UTC 3 years ago
Congratulations
First of all thanks to Live Journal and Caferati for conducting the competition. It was my first attempt in writing something like flash fiction...a good learning experience it was. I hope I'll improve in future.Congratulations to all the winners and even to all the participants.
The one thing that I can't stop myself from sharing is the coincidence that occurred regarding the Jury Special Prize and the plot of my own story entered for the competition. It's so encouraging that the Jury and LJ decided to give recognition to the creativity of the winner of the Jury Special Prize. Hats off to you for taking the right decision and encouraging talent (putting rules aside).
Thanks
Reeshita