Welcome to the final results of category Blurb. The shortlisted entries were announced prior only. The entries moved ahead to be scored and judged one final time, by the third judge, and here are the results:

Winning entry:
https://www.wattpad.com/story/352574859
High_Priestess_Elena : The five cursed witches

Simplicity: 10
Length:10
Intrigue: 9
Balance of information: 8
Technicality: 8
Overall score: 45

Review 1: What can be improved: ‘it has become time for it again’ could be changed to something like, ‘The time for it has come again’ or something like that, because I admit I had to read that line a couple of times to grasp the meaning. You can highlight that specific sentence by separating it into a single line, so readers can see the story's main conflict is introduced.

Strength: The length was the perfect amount and the language was simple. The opening line was a good hook and it was apparent that the plot was not something that I’ve seen before. I liked that the plot hinted at being a rare one! I liked that! Overall, I was really intrigued by this plot! Both the opening line AND the last line were great at building curiosity in readers. The opening line was what hooked me, and the ending line was what made me want to read the book! Great job!

Review 2: Extra points to the blurb for having a balance of character introduction, character flaw, goal, and the turning point. The sense of intrigue remains intact for me.

Score by 2nd judge: 42/50

Total overall score: 87/100

Winning sticker & certificate:

2nd position:
https://www.wattpad.com/story/353423645
reindolfwrites: Fading Spotlight

Simplicity: 8/10
Length: 8/10
Intrigue: 7.5/10
Balance of information: 6/10
Technicality: 9/10
Overall score: 38.5/50

Review 1: Strength:  The words used are neither very difficult nor simple for a thriller book. The strength of the blurb also lies in its almost appropriate length. The length can be improved by minimising the wordy paragraphs. The blurb is left at a very correct point leading to great curiosity being generated in the reader’s mind. 

What can be improved: The information provided in the blurb seems incomplete, you can add the names of the awards instead of writing ‘big awards’. You can reveal the name of the actress and journalist. I am not sure about adding the disclaimer in the blurb. I prefer disclaimers in the prologue or the preface chapter of the book since many times blurbs are skipped when one reads from getting recommendations.

Review 2: Beautifully drafted blurb with character revelation, possible hook point, other character in question, and the mystery. The blurb is enough to keep the reader wanting for more.

Score by 2nd judge: 47/50

Total overall score: 85.5/100

3rd Position:
https://www.wattpad.com/story/355252452
Aravis-Brightspell: The gathering dark

Simplicity: 9.5/10
Length: 6/10
Intrigue: 8.5/10
Balance of information: 7/10
Technicality: 7/10
Overall score: 38/50

Review 1: Strength: The blurb uses very good wording. The description of the characters is on point. The blurb needs no background. But also because of the lack of other information, it feels more like a background than a blurb. Even with the less information it produces a lot of intrigue.

What can be improved: One-paragraph blurbs are not appreciated, add at least two paragraphs in a blurb. The second paragraph can be all questions and full of challenges characters are facing in the book. The blurb lacks the challenges and outcomes of the book.

Review 2: The strength of blurb lies in its concise length. In perfect amount of words, the main lead has been introduced, the nature of job, obstacle, and the hint of a mysterious journey - points have been added in concrete manner.

Score by 2nd judge: 46/50

Total overall score: 84/100

Congratulations to all the three position holders.

Other shortlisters and scores:

•• Shortlist 1: https://www.wattpad.com/story/226264605
Kikibtsstan: Mystical Mutant

Simplicity:10
Length:9
Intrigue:10
Balance of information: 9
Technicality:10
Overall score:48

Review 1: What can be improved: I think there was too much information on the male main character, it’s not a big issue but that’s all I have got to say! I have no other problems with this blurb, not too many visible and big points to point out.

Strength: There was a good balance of information, the language was simple, the opening line hooked me immediately, the ending line left me on the edge of my seat, the characters were explained well, no grammar errors- this was a strong blurb! This blurb proved that this story was going to have a different plot. How did the characters meet? How did they fall in love? Why couldn't he confess his love? How did he learn her secret? What other mysteries are there? There was a good amount of curiosity in this for me! I loved it! Well done!

Review 2: The length of the blurb could be worked upon. Additionally, too much information is a sort of deal-breaker. Refrain from telling everything about the main lead's potential, weakness, day-to-day life in blurb. Instead, add one or two hook points, and leave the rest for the plot to unveil. I'll deduct marks solely because of the oversharing of the information.

Score by 2nd judge: 30/50

Total overall score: 78/100

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•• Shortlist 2: https://www.wattpad.com/story/351437900
Ablazeisaleo: Dungeon

Simplicity:8
Length:9
Intrigue:10
Balance of information:10
Technicality:10
Overall score: 47

Review 1: What can be improved: The blurb was quite long…in my opinion, I felt that the third and fourth paragraphs were similar; they could be merged if the author wants to! Other than that, I have no big issues to point out in this blurb!

Strength: Every sentence in this blurb has the potential to create curiosity and intrigue in the readers. I think that is a talent, this fact amazed me. The language used was heavy, the vocabulary was very rich and the flow was really smooth. Not too much was spoiled, and it was an impressively constructed blurb. Just from the blurb alone, you can say that the author is talented in writing and grammar nazis can have a rest while enjoying this read! Great job!

Review 2: I'll be deducting the score because of the length. A blurb is supposed to intrigue the reader to read further. However, a too long blurb may kill that curiosity and create a negative impact instead.

Score by 2nd judge: 35/50

Total overall score: 82/100

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•• Shortlist 3: https://www.wattpad.com/story/357924134
EnigmaEpic: Fates converged

Simplicity:10
Length: 8
Intrigue:10
Balance of information:10
Technicality:9
Overall score: 47

Review 1: What can be improved: The length was a tad bit long, in my opinion. I am not an English expert, but I think replacing ‘more close’ with ‘closer’ is simpler, even though it is grammatically correct. Overall, I have no other complaints about this!

Strength: The single opening lines were like a teaser to a movie. It was an impressive way of building up curiosity in readers. I liked that the author did not reveal the name of the character throughout the blurb, only revealing it in the last line of the blurb. This highlighted the fact that the character was powerful and you could hear her tone and your spine chilling with that revelation of hers. The language was simple and easy to understand too. Well done with this one!

Review 2: The blurb seems too ambiguous. What is the prominent goal that lead the plot? Who is the main lead? What is the prime antagonistic force to hinder the journey? What is at stake?

Score by 2nd judge: 34/50

Total overall score: 81/100

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•• Shortlist 4: https://www.wattpad.com/story/340278180
aurora_2604: Romantic story

Simplicity: 8/10
Length: 10/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Balance of information: 8/10
Technicality: 6/10
Overall score: 40/50

Review 1: Strength: The length of the blurb is perfectly perfect. I love the use of paragraph breakers or sectioners, whatever you may call them. The information provided by you is almost perfect, has the character names, their description to a limit, the hook point, challenges and the ultimate goal.

What can be improved: I would love to read more about the hook point in the blurb itself so you can elaborate on it more clearly. However, if the highest ranking goes beyond 2 rankings, please add it to the preface and eliminate it from the blurb, it makes the blurb look lengthy. While the blurb structure is almost perfect, what keeps it away from reaching the ideal format is the lack of paragraphs and only the use of sentences, which can also leave the reader more intrigued.

Review 2: The blurb's hook point appears to be contradictory. In initial phases, the characters are shown with mutual hatred. But by the end one character seems to be doting and obsessed. Clarity in a blurb is the key point. Give your reader a glimpse of the struggle that stops the characters from achieving their goal, and the major stake.

Score by 2nd judge: 38/50

Total overall score: 78/100

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•• Shortlist 5: https://www.wattpad.com/story/356555487
sleepytinker5757: A kingdom of dreams

Simplicity: 9/10
Length: 10/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Balance of information: 9/10
Technicality: 6.5/10
Overall score: 42.5/50

Review 1: Strength: The length of the blurb is perfect. The balance of information you serve is commendable. The blurb intrigues you well, as you have left space open for the past of both the protagonists as well as their future, without creating the feeling of absence of a background.

What can be improved: There are some grammatical and structural errors. You can remove the space you added before starting every paragraph. You should reveal the name of the stranger at the start when you introduce him, or not reveal the name at all, as it becomes confusing for a second when you suddenly reveal his name without prior notice in the last paragraph.  The first paragraph which is quoted can be shortened a bit. First para rewrite as:

"After the great war, King Archeron, not yet a king, was the obvious choice to be the monarch of Avenlea. He possessed all the qualities a king should have - courage, intelligence, boldness, strength, and empathy; but most of all, the Gods had given him a quality of his own, something he could pass on to his children.

They gave him — FIRE. Fire that could bring down nations."

Review 2: The only issue that I faced in the blurb is the missing goal. What exactly is the main lead fighting for? Identity? Connection? Family? Something else?

Score by 2nd judge: 40/50

Total overall score: 82.5/100

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Congratulations to the shortlisters, once again!

Shortlist sticker:

Participants' sticker:

Remaining entries and scores:

1: Zstuckey11: Rubies vs Emeralds

Simplicity: 9/10
Length: 9/10
Intrigue: 7.5/10
Balance of information: 6/10
Technicality: 5/10
Overall score: 33.5/50

Strength: The length of the blurb is almost perfect. The words used are simple to understand, with no jargon, and no complex or specified terminology. The intrigue is also created to a great extent and can be up to mark by improving the points followed in the next section. The format of the blurb is great.

What can be improved: There is use of ellipses in the blurb which is not a good sign and as blurb itself is an ellipse between the cover and the book. You should not need to use ellipses, you can use a long hyphen or comma to substitute it. There is a disbalance of information - reveal to some extent what Ruby and Emerald signify, unless it is fanfiction. You can add a quote to the beginning. There are some grammatical mistakes as well.

Ella, a 13-year-old princess born into the royal family of Rubies amid a war — The Rubies vs. the Emeralds was raised to despise the Emeralds and never hesitate to attack them.
   
However, Ella's world quickly starts to change when she's sent to a place behind her kingdom where she finds herself befriending people whom she never thought she'd befriend, And going places she never thought she'd go.

The journey helps Ella to see things from a different angle. And suddenly, she has a new mission — One whose odds of success are not in her favour.
   
With the help of her friends, will she be able to do the impossible and change things for the better? Or will things remain the way they always were?

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2: KanhaiyakiSakhi9112: Yashoda Nandan krishn ki kahani

Simplicity: 6/10
Length: 8/10
Intrigue: 4/10
Balance of information: 4/10
Technicality: 7.5/10
Overall score: 29.5/50

Strength: The length of the blurb is perfect, but can be made even more nice by combing some phrases together to form an almost paragraph. All the words used are pretty understandable to everyone but some words like Gopikas, etc. are jargon which one should avoid, but then again your book is a religious mythology genre, so we can skip that point as a benefit of the genre.

What can be improved: The font used can be switched to normal font since not all users have user interfaces that support such font styles, and what we see is a box instead of what you have typed. The crucial information, like a peek from the background, the challenges and a possible outcome revelation. The blurb lacks the hook point which will create a surge of intrigue in the reader’s mind.

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3: Klaudeta07: We have to kill

Simplicity: 9/10
Length: 8/10
Intrigue: 6/10
Balance of information: 8/10
Technicality: 5/10
Overall score: 36/50

Strength: The strength of the blurb lies in the simple words used and the small zest of information released. However, the pieces of information should be spread throughout the three paragraphs, which will increase the intrigue. The length of the blurb was almost perfect.

What can be improved: You can divide the length of paras a bit more symmetrically. Remove the extra enter space after the first para, please. The structure of the blurb, mainly the grammatical issues must be fixed:
Incomplete story versions, unsolved crime cases and innocents wickedly thrown in the middle of a war full of secrets. - Just a phrase not a complete sentence.
Are bad people those who cause disasters, or disasters are the reason why people become bad? - Grammatical issue - rewritten as: Are those who cause disasters, bad people; or Are those who cause bad people, disasters? OR Do bad people cause disasters, or do disasters cause bad people?

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4: Saramitra_: second chances

Simplicity: 7/10
Length: 4/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Balance of information: 4/10
Technicality: 9.5/10
Overall score: 31.5/50

Strength: The paragraphs in the blurb are not too wordy which is great. The format of the blurb is almost perfect but please remove the achievements (#3 in #..., etc). The disclaimer added is necessary for the reader to read, so it is quite acceptable. Kindly remove the last sentence welcoming constructive criticism, and add it to the preface of the book. The words used in the blurb are beautifully devised, however some words can be simplified. I really like the mention of hospitals as a hook point in the blurb.

What can be improved: The blurb’s length is too small. One can not consider the text after the copyright statement as a part of the blurb, since it is about achievements and disclaimer. The information in the blurb only revealed the challenges of the book, and the names of characters, at most. You can add a hook point and some background to the blurb.

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5: msleeria: Tangled Claws

Simplicity:9
Length:9
Intrigue:8
Balance of information: 8
Technicality:10
Overall score: 44

What can be improved: One thing I felt when I read the blurb was how it felt to me like the opening of the story rather than a blurb. The ‘mysterious plant’ is hidden in the middle of the first paragraph, if there was a way you could’ve brought it as the opening line instead to grab the attention of the reader even more, that could’ve been better in my opinion! The blurb feels a tad bit long, maybe you can attend to that too.

I think the reader’s attention is immediately drawn to what is beneath the hyphen line instead of the opening quote because that is what happened to me. The opening quote needs to be highlighted more and the first a reader should see, so if you could shift that hyphen line above, and leave paragraph breaks in between could help too. I apologize if this is actually something that was wrong with me. Other than that, I have no issues here!

Strength: I sense that this is a love triangle! Oh, it’s going to be messy! This is what I felt when I read this blurb. The last three paragraphs were the strongest in the blurb, they intrigue the reader and make them curious. Looks like there’s a mystery to unfold here! I loved this one, it proved that the story was going to be intriguing with a very good plot that is unique! Well done!

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6: sparklet11: Fated to be you

Simplicity: 9
Length: 9
Intrigue: 7
Balance of information: 8
Technicality: 9
Overall score: 42

What can be improved: It was hard to grasp the meaning behind the phrase ‘..battles with for Jolin’, is she fighting with Jolin or is she fighting somebody for Jolin? This phrase could have different meanings depending on the context. There was a sudden introduction of an Instagram feature in the last lines with the use of ‘The Instagram feature’. The addition of ‘the’ particle in that phrase implies that you have introduced this feature before in the blurb which made me wonder whether I have missed the mention of it before. It can be changed into ‘An Instagram feature’ with more context following it. Hope this helps!

Strength: The opening lines were a very good start to the blurb! The question implied in the blurb also helps in growing curiosity too, that was a good touch! The language was simple and easy to understand too. This blurb hinted at the plot being a very unique one, the plot was something I had never read of before. So this is sure to interest readers! I love it when I come across plots that I have not read before. Well done!

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7: akosi_polboron: At what cost?

Simplicity: 9
Length: 10
Intrigue: 8
Balance of information: 9
Technicality:7
Overall score: 43

What can be improved: “On Cj’s 5th birthday, which was very happy, not until his mother died.” - This sentence does not give a clear, direct meaning. I suppose the author wants to say that everything was joyful and all was well on Cj’s birthday until his mother died. There were some punctuation issues I think were there as well. You can edit it this way if you find it applicable;

“Together they unveil secrets that will change their lives. Can they overcome it? Will love conquer all? If they will, then, at what cost?”

Maybe the author could add at least one more detail about the academic rival, to intrigue the readers:) Other than that, I have no other issues to point out.

Strength: The author has evoked the curiosity factor in the readers! The language is simple, the blurb is not unnecessarily long, and it is well constructed. I also admire the fact that the author has ended the blurb with the title incorporated into it. It was a good touch! Well done!

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8: Zion204: Miss Porcelain and the lion

Simplicity: 9
Length: 10
Intrigue: 5
Balance of information: 7
Technicality: 6
Overall score: 37

What can be improved: Let’s not be discouraged by the marks, we can certainly improve the blurb by working on its technicality! The blurb had issues with the punctuation and capitalization.Therefore, this blurb needs heavy editing. Also, it is necessary to hint or add what the main problem or goal of the story is to intrigue readers more, and let them be curious about where the plot is headed! Capitalize the beginning of a sentence and mind the punctuation! Other than that, there are no big issues to point out.

Strength: This is certainly a very unique-looking story. The language is simple and I like how the characters are described. That was the author’s strongest suit! The characters were well described and created a curiosity in the readers too. The blurb ending with “A Porcelain and a Lion huh?” was a really good touch, since readers get curious as to how two completely different people can get mixed up with each other. A lion is fierce but porcelain is breakable. This was a good contrast that could be easily understood by the readers. Overall, it was a good blurb with more potential to grow. Great job and good luck!