1st Place goes to SuVida777

2nd Place go to aidensohnwrites & CroodsGirl

3rd Place goes to Katopark

And for the rest of the participants get this sticker.

《○》

Judged by Anunimouse96

The Act by JamieStRaine

Title 4/5
Cover 2.5/5
Blurb 3/5
Presentation 4/5
Opening chapter 6/10
Plot 10/20
Grammar 9/10
Vocabulary 8/10
Dialogues 7/10
Characters 9/10
Story development 8/10

Total 70.5/100

Messummer by CroodsGirl

Title 4/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 3/5
Presentation 4/5
Opening chapter 10/10
Plot 18/20
Grammar 9/10
Vocabulary 8/10
Dialogues 9/10
Characters 10/10
Story development 8/10

Total 88/100

The Kraken of Europa by SuVida777

Title 5/5
Cover 5/5
Blurb 4/5
Presentation 5/5
Opening chapter 10/10
Plot 20/20
Grammar 10/10
Vocabulary 10/10
Dialogues 10/10
Characters 10/10
Story development 10/10

Total 99/100

Horror Stories by TharushiRanasinghe5

Title 4/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 3/5
Presentation 5/5
Opening chapter 8/10
Plot 16/20
Grammar 7/10
Vocabulary 8/10
Dialogues 8/10
Characters 6/10
Story development 8/10

Total 77/100

Selling Spring byaidensohnwrites

Title 4/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 4/5
Presentation 5/5
Opening chapter 10/10
Plot 17/20
Grammar 8/10
Vocabulary 10/10
Dialogues 9/10
Characters 9/10
Story development 8/10

Total 88/100

Toxicity by waterandfire_xox

Title 5/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 5/5
Presentation 5/5
Opening chapter 7/10
Plot 18/20
Grammar 9/10
Vocabulary 7/10
Dialogues 8/10
Characters 8/10
Story development 7/10

Total 83/100

The Cabin by SylRose18

Title 5/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 2/5
Presentation 3/5
Opening chapter 5/10
Plot 11/20
Grammar 8/10
Vocabulary 6/10
Dialogue 7/10
Character 7/10
Story development 6/10

Total 62/100

Ersatz Leman by Katopark

Title 5/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 3/5
Presentation 5/5
Opening chapter 10/10
Plot 16/20
Grammar 10/10
Vocabulary 10/10
Dialogue 10/10
Character 10/10
Story development 7/10

Total 84/100

Three By Two by psssfthhp

Title 5/5
Cover 4/5
Blurb 1.5/5
Presentation 3/5
Opening chapter 6/10
Plot 9/20
Grammar 7/10
Vocabulary 7/10
Dialogue 7/10
Character 6/10
Story development 7/10

Total 62.5/100

《○》

Judged by ericathedwarf

You said it’s True Love
Nefelibatas_world

Title 3.5/5

I’m hoping someone actually says this at some point. 

Cover 4/5

Like the colors, composition is done well, fits with the title

Blurb 4/5

Like the quote, not too long. Solid blurb in the center, gives a little bit of backstory and premise and leaves a bit of intrigue. Wasn’t sold on it until the last line about ginger and sprinkles or spice or something. 

Presentation 5/5

A trailer and a playlist and so many gifs and instructions to read in dark mode? 10/10. I mean 5/5.

Opening chapter 7.5/10

This was kind of a fun first chapter, at first I thought the drama was a little over the top (eyes building out of head, etc), but I don’t know by the end of the chapter I found it charming and amusing. 

Plot 12/20

Although this is a cute story, the plot is a little bit far-fetched (eight years is a long time with no contact to then suddenly get married). There also wasn’t a lot of obstacles that they had to get through (besides the eight years, which really isn’t explored that much in this story)

Grammar 6.5/10

There was some stuff that was off enough to be distracting to the reader, but not super frequent

Vocabulary 8/10

Interesting adverb/adjective choices, but I don’t think they are the strongest choice (frustratedly, etc). Lots o adverbs

Okay listen, it’s growing on me. “Shook him to eternity” is speaking to me

Dialogue 8/10

“Whoa whoa! Hold the heck up right there!” is my new favorite line of dialogue

Update: now it’s “kitten? I’m not a cat! Who the real freak is this?”

Character 7/10

Lol Yoongi has a strong personality. He’s goofy and also will say whatever and also freaks out easily. Love it.

June is just as wild. They’re made for each other.

They don’t go through arcs though, except for June I guess? Yoongi doesn’t though

Story Development 8/10

Listen. Listen. I’m loving this so far. It’s just I don’t know, funny isn’t the right word. It doesn’t make me laugh, it makes me smile and chuckle. It’s heartwarming and unexpected. Yoongi is great.

Total 73.5/100

Short Story of a Lonely Dispair by Aaa-202

Chapter 1-5
Chapter 6-end
Title 2/5 --
This title just kind of tells me what it is. I know exactly what to expect, it doesn’t reach out and grab me or give me any concrete clues about the world I’m about to enter. I’m a little intrigued with the spelling of “Dispair,” maybe if it’s intentional I’ll come back and give another point.

After reading to the end, I don’t think the title matches the story very well.
Cover 4/5 --
The title of the book doesn’t match the title displayed on the cover, and the author’s name isn’t listed. I kind of like the minimal design, and I like the font and placement of the word “Help” but was hoping for a little bit more than just a black background. I can see how this cover would appeal to some people though.

I’m coming back after reading a bit. I think the cover makes more sense after reading about Lye’s situation and the darkness he finds himself in. However, I do still think the title on the cover should match the title listed in Wattpad.
Blurb 2/5 --
I still don’t really have much clues about what I’m going to be embarking on. Who are the characters? What is the genre? The tone? The conflict? I like the tie into the cover with the last line also just being “Help,” but I don’t really understand who is speaking. Is this the author’s voice or a character’s voice. If it’s a character’s voice, I can see what the author was going for, but I think it needs a little bit more flavor to really read as that.
Presentation 2.5/5  --
Nothing really jumps out at me, but nothing detracts from it either.
Opening chapter 7.5/10 --
Okay, I’m starting to be drawn in. I think the blurb voice was the character voice. The narrator is first person, limited, and I’m guessing unreliable. They know nothing except for the fact that I’m reading what they have written. But they’re asking me for help, so I could either be reading this as it’s happening to Lye, or long after the contents of this story have occurred. I do think this chapter is a little on the short side, but sometimes you only need a little bit for a prologue. This isn’t listed as a prologue though, so it might just be the first chapter. We’ll see.

I do think that the opening line is not very strong. I don’t want to feel like I’m reading a diary or a letter, I want to feel like I’m in that dark place with Lye, because that’s the most interesting thing going on in this chapter. Why are they in the dark?

Plot 11/20 16/20
I’ve read five chapters and I feel like the story hasn’t really moved anywhere. The main conflict is that he’s in this torture room that he can’t leave. His desired end to the conflict is to die. There really isn’t a lot of tension though because progress towards resolving the conflict isn’t made. It’s hard to judge the plot from just the first five chapters, especially since they’re so short, but I just can’t see where this is going.

I was hoping the other voices Lye hears (the crying and laughing voices) would pick up some traction, but they still feel more like a backdrop to his endless pain and suffering.

Short stories, by the nature of their length, have to get the plot going a lot sooner than novel length works.

I still think it was a little slow to get started, but I understand why the author made the choices they did. I think this is one of those stories that benefits from a second read after you know the twist at the end. One the laughing voices started talking to her, things started to unfold rapidly, she also escalated the way she was hurting herself, which increased the tension
Grammar 8/10 --
Missed apostrophes. Some weird sentence stuff in chp 3 (I have just a distraction from the pain).

Chp 4 “I do am crying.” takes away from the power of that line

Period outside of a quotation mark
Vocabulary 5/10 7/10
First chapter, a lot of telling, not a lot of showing. A few concrete images with the sofa and the bathroom, but not many.

A lot of repetition of the word “Maybe” at the beginning of sentences. I’m a sucker for repetition, but I think it’s reached the point of diminishing returns. I like the more concrete imagery in chp 2, the worms and centipedes, the skin stuff, etc.

Most vivid vocab is used with flesh stuff, but it still isn’t very vivid.

In chapter six, the narrator got more expressive in describing that grassy scene and the various ways she mutilated herself.
Dialogue 6.5/10 7.5/10
So far no dialogue. Just the narrator talking to the reader. He did switch from saying we were reading his words to now we’re talking, which was confusing.

I’m going to approach the first-person narrator’s voice as the dialogue since he talks to the reader the whole time.
Character 5/10 8/10
I’m in chapter 3, I don’t know how I feel about Lye. It’s hard to know how I feel about him. Him? Them? I just don’t know them, so how do I know how to feel about them? I think I’m supposed to sympathize with Lye, because he’s trapped and in pain and losing himself, but I haven’t been given a reason to care yet. He could be in prison for murdering a bunch of children and the punishment is being eaten to the death by centipedes. Once again, how would I know?

Okay, now I’m in chapter four. Now Lye is pleading with me. This does tug at me a little bit. Why am I the only one he has right now?

Chp 5 Now he’s forgotten his name. I don’t know I still don’t feel connected to this character. He just keeps hurting himself and wants to die and is losing himself and his mind in this darkness. I don’t know how to relate to that without knowing who he was before this.

Oh my gosh. I take it back. Around chapter 7 or 8 I became very invested in this character. The twist at the end was powerful when it was revealed who he or she was. Ahhhhh! I’m glad I read to the end.
Story Development 6/10 8/10
We’re getting a little more about the hallucinations in chapter two, but not much about why this person is in this dark place, or why they’re talking to us.

Reached chp 5 and still really don’t know what’s going on. Each chapter some other form of pain or torment is introduced and Lye forgets more and more of himself. Not much else is changing.

The story development in this one was not linear, it was exponential, slow at first then rapidly increasing at the end.

Total 72.5/100

Final Thoughts:

I really like the idea that this short story is built upon. I won’t spoil it, you should read it until the end. We get to watch the narrator as they grapple with the situation they find themselves in and what it means, and what they still have the power to do. The images on their own, of this person in a dark room, listening to crying and laughing, and experiencing extreme bodily pain and torture, are powerful. The language supporting them, however, kept me from becoming fully immersed in those images. The word choice and sentence structuring and voice weren’t bad, they were fine. There was just a higher proportion of telling rather than showing. It can be a hard balance to strike when working with a narrator like this, but, especially at the beginning, it was difficult to really picture what was going on. I think what this short story needs is some polishing, but the foundation it’s built upon is fantastic and needs no change.

Hellfire — Old Flames Burn Brightest by leelabellabooks

Title 4.5/5
It’s punchy and the tagline/subtitle is nice. Wouldn’t have guessed it had to do with firefighters without the cover though.
Cover 4.5/5
Shadow thing is cool, text is well placed
Blurb 3.5/5
Normally I’m not a fan of really pun heavy blurbs but I think it works for this one. I know exactly what kind of story this is, who the characters are, what their struggle/conflict is going to be, kind of what the inciting incident is probably (either arson or accidental fire). I think I would like a little bit less about the character’s backstories, feelings, or motives. I want there to be a little bit of surprise, I want to be intrigued. Otherwise, solid blurb
Presentation 4.5/5
The character portraits and the banner colleagues definitely fit the tone of the story and add to the ambience. Good use of italics/spacing throughout as well
Opening chapter 6/10
Decent introduction to the main character and her family. A little world-building for the town. Not a whole lot of movement though, only hints of conflicts/tension
Plot 16.5/20
So far I like the direction it’s going in. I can see several promising avenues that the plot could take. There wasn’t too much exposition in the beginning, just enough that we care about what happens to Finn and Harley in that fire.
Grammar 8/10
Okay the double periods are consistent which makes me think they’re a stylistic choice and not a mistake. They do make the pacing as little off as I’m reading because I’m expecting ellipses and not used to it yet.

A few typos/sentence things
Vocabulary 8/10
Adjective and adverb heavy, it gets a little cluttered at times which makes it harder to form a clear mental picture, which feels counter-intuitive.

Some of the word choice creates alliteration or cadences that draw a little too much attention and pull you out of the story a bit. Ex: “I open my eyes and her voluptuous vision is already perforating in the periphery of my memory”
Dialogue 8/10
There’s a lot of pet names in the dialogue, maybe like two too many in the first chapter. Some cute happy family banter.

Adjusting for the accents is kind of clunky.
Character 7/10
I’m not sure how I feel about Harley yet. I think I need some more time to get to know her besides her affinity for motorcycles and the fact that she’s single and comes from a happy and functional family.

Okay, I like Finn, he’s funny.

I don’t like that Harley looks down on other women because they’re different or more “traditionally feminine” than her, but that’s pretty par for the course in this genre.

Dude Finn used the word “feckless” I love him
Story Development 7.5/10
There’s a lot more telling than showing in the first chapter, especially with how Harley feels, what Harley is thinking, and how their family/her parents feel and operate.

Now in chapter three there’s more danger for Harley. We see that she wants Finn as much as Finn wants her but neither will talk about it. Still some tell no show going on but not as concentrated.

Having them meet again in a fire makes sense. I like it.

Total 78/100

Bernadette's Diary by AdrielleReina

Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-end

Title 3.5/5
The title is fine. I know who the main character will be (probably) and the general format that the story will take. It doesn’t give any clues toward the genre on its own, but takes on a different tone when paired with the cover.

Cover 4/5
Very spooky. I like the fonts that were chosen and the placement of the text. I like the way the girl (Bernadette maybe?) is framed by the trees. Is she dead? Is she a ghost? What’s going on there? The red tone is also kind of hellish and spooky. Guess I’ll have to read on to find out if it is meant to evoke more blood or fire. !!! I just noticed the eyes along the bottom. Now I’m very intrigued and a little nervous!

I don’t mind when books have stickers on them, the ones I’ve entered into contests do, but I think the placement of the thumbprint one is a little distracting. My eye keeps getting pulled from the main subject of the cover (the floating girl), which makes it a little less effective I think.

Blurb 4/5
I like the blurb but I was left wanting more about either the terrible atrocity or the main character. If I just stumbled upon this book, I would still be on the fence about whether to crack it open or not without one of those two details. Or maybe more about the town? I don’t know, I just think it needs something to pull you into the world, to pull you specifically into Devil’s Creek.

I think the devil come down to Georgia line was really effective though.

Presentation 5/5
The banner images add to the atmosphere and complement the chapters nicely.

Opening chapter 10/10
(Prologue) Dude. Dude dude dude dude. I love this prologue. Normally I’m not a huge fan of chapters that start out with quotes and I tend to breeze through them. This volley of quotes however does a perfect job of setting up what seems to be one of the main conflicts/mysteries/avenues of exploration for the story: does the devil make us do things or are we the devil. Ooooh. I’m getting excited just typing about it. And then. And then. A whole in-fiction newspaper page?! So cool. So unexpected. So very very cool. I got so wrapped up in it that I did check to see if the newspaper’s website was real. It was not, but I think that’s for the best.
And I thought it was going to stop there. Nope. Then we meet the detective. Immediately, we’re in Rhette Ryder’s head. He’s giving us a little more information. Bernadette’s name is mentioned. But then we realize that we’re really in the same information boat at Ryder, and we’ll hopefully be learning things along with him.

Off to a phenomenal start. So pumped for this!

Plot 15/20 16/20
Seems like a good rising action.

Now we’re getting somewhere, the introduction of the witch book served as a good catalyst for the changes in Bernadette. She’s given in to temptation and committed to it, doing whatever it takes to know that someone out there hears her, no matter what it costs.

Transition between detective’s office to grandparent’s house a little rough

The climax (when the cops confronted her at her grandparent’s house) did not feel as climactic as the murder of Aiden. I wanted to read at least excerpts from the other murders too, especially Abigail’s. They just kind of shot her. She didn’t even get a chance to fight back. I don’t know. I get that it changed perspectives at that point, but I just felt kind of let down after the great descriptions in the Aiden diary entry. I wanted to see more of her interactions with the devil.

Grammar 9/10 8/10
Fine, a few tense errors/typos that don’t feel intentional for voice

Some more errors, seem like typos or lack of proofing
Vocabulary 7/10 8/10
Vocab matches the character’s age. Some good images (the roots thing).

Interesting the religious imagery used when talking about the devil (like a shepherd with a lost lamb).

Dude. The descriptions for Aiden’s death had just enough precision and gore without it being too much. I liked that she inserted her own voice in there as well.

Dialogue 7/10 6.5/10
If the rest of the story continues in diary format, there might not be much in the way of dialogue. Bernadette’s voice is starting to develop, however, and she writes in her diary mostly how I used to write in mine when I was her age.

Dialogue sounds natural for high schoolers.

Some of the dialogue in the later chapters is a little bit clunky (detective and FBI man, etc.)

Character 6/10 7/10
I like Bernadette so far, she’s a relatable lonely teen.

The other characters feel kind of one-dimensional, but that can happen in short stories sometimes.

So far Bernadette hasn’t really gone through much of a change or growth.

Lol there’s been some changes. There’s a significant difference in the way she carries herself in her writing after her encounter with the devil. If we could see her, she’d look steady and be holding her head high, shoulders back, bright light in her eyes.

Now I am much more aligned with mr. detective man than Bernadette. Like she’s gone full devil-cannibal-lady It’s kinda hard to feel bad for her anymore, but I think that’s the point.

Story Development 6/10 6.5/10
Got kind of a slow build up at the beginning so far. Bernadette’s situation gets a little worse, but nothing to push her over the edge quite yet.

The deep fake is definitely an escalation. Also Bernadette’s thoughts have escalated, but not in an unrealistic way.

I like some of the detective interjections, but some of them feel unnecessary. I like the one where he pulls out the file for Aidan.

Dude we’ve taken a cannibalistic turn and I’m here for it. What the heck is she going to do to the girls to top this one?

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. David is FBI guy, right? He said “they,” I think I know where “they” might be hiding. And then he knew that if she kept levitating and glowing that “He” would come out? That is mighty mighty suspicious, David. Wait, also he had a weird gun? Are we working with devil hunters here?

The ending was kind of fun, liked the song at the end, tied into the blurb.
Total 78.5/100

Final thoughts:
I like this one. I think the steadiness of the detective balanced out the wild shift in Bernadette that happens. I like that Bernadette went full-blown possessed, that there wasn’t any question about what was happening there. I think we might have been supposed to be feeling doubts like the detective, but I didn’t falter in my belief that Bernadette was communing with the devil. Although I enjoyed this story and its twists and turns, I think there are a few things that would have helped to strengthen it.
The blurb poses the central question of the story to be did the devil really come down to Georgia. I think that there is room to take the reader along on that question with the detective and the town for longer.
For Bernadette to feel more real, I wanted her to have hesitation or doubt in her decision after giving herself over to the devil. She’d been a devout Christian her whole life. Even with what she went through, I don’t think she would have given herself so fully so quickly if it wasn’t something she’d been considering for a long time. I think this could also be accomplished by having her perform a smaller spell from the book as a test before jumping straight into devil summoning
I felt like the cool kids didn’t have a strong enough motive for the deep fake. That’s a big step from sending a fake valentine, especially like a few days later, even for bullies. I would expect something like that as a retaliation, not as an unprovoked action. I do think the deep fake was a strong enough event to cause the breakdown for Bernadette though.
Anyway, I thought this was a fun little exploration of what it takes to push someone to abandon their beliefs, and of the rippling consequences of bullying.

As It Was by thxrsdaychild

Title 4/5
It evokes a specific feeling that matches the cover. I like it
Cover 4/5
I like it, I think there needs to be a little more contrast between the figures and the background. I lik ehow the bubble things overlap
Blurb 1/5
There’s just not enough here. I know it’s supposed to be pretty sparse with something this length, but I feel like the question/thought it poses is just too vague to really draw someone in with that sentence alone.
Presentation 3/5
Not a lot to go on here but it was okay
Opening chapter /10
I’ll do opening paragraph for this because there’s just one chapter. Immediately caught my attention, but cut the sentence right at the comma, don’t qualify it there. If you really need to qualify it with the actually it took a few years, do it in the next paragraph or in a few paragraphs. Let that first phrase really punch.
Plot 15/20
Similar to story development notes below. I like that we start right in the middle of something, right in the middle of a tense scene with action and passion and movement. Then it slows down and tenses up and has nowhere to go.
Grammar 9/10

Vocabulary 6.5/10
Fine, nothing jumping out at me either way
Dialogue 7.5/10
Could use more contractions since they’re teens having casual convos
Character 7.5/10
Okay, I wasn’t sure about Kian but I love that he just pushed Adrian away with one finger on his forehead and now I love him

In a short time we’ve been given glimpses into both of their personalities and they are both too cute
Story Development 6/10
It was cute, but it felt like a set up without enough of a punchline.There was a lot of tension there at the end that built really well, but then it kind of just ended and the tension fizzled out without a way to resolve. Anyway, I think this would be a cute one to flesh out into a fuller story.

Total 68.5/100