APRIL THEME: HEALTH

Wow - what a fabulous month! Honestly, I had been a bit worried - I didn't think we'd get many entries for this theme. But everyone proved me wrong! We had more entries than we have ever had before, with a bigger shortlist, too! The stories were of INCREDIBLE quality, and as I was double-checking the scores, I found that there were lots of stories that were only a point or even half-a-point away from each other! Well done to everyone!

And, of course, a MASSIVE thank you must go to the judges. Without them, these awards would be nothing. 

awesomeSTG - You are a Godsend. No matter how much you stress over being late, you always manage to submit scores well before time, and your feedback is so intricate and detailed that it's almost as if you're writing full reviews for each story you judge! Thank you so much for your hard work, determination, and friendship. 

EmberShy - It was so nice having you come back as a judge! As always, you were quick and hard-working, and a very positive person to work with. Thank you for coming back to us - nothing makes me more happy than seeing people come back (surely, you must be sick of me by now!). 

GryffindorsLoneWolf - Oh my goodness. You are an actual blessing. I have no idea what I would do without you, your detailed judging, and your determination to get things done on time. I even gave you more books than you had asked for, and you still submitted it all before it was due, and you didn't once complain. You have an excellent work ethic, and I am so grateful to have you on the team. 

olivia_paigex - It's the first time you've judged for us, and I am so glad you did! Even though you were so busy, you asked for more books than I thought anyone would ever ask for, and you submitted it all in time with a great amount of detail within the feedback. I was supremely impressed by your incredible work - thank you so much! 

the_bibliophile101 - Thank you so much for coming back and judging for us! Your feedback is always so intricate and detailed, and honestly, I could not have asked for anything more. I am always so honoured to have you back on the team, so thank you so much!

And now, onto our results!

We had a total of 15 books make the shortlist, and boy, let me tell you - it was not easy for the judges to decide on winners. It ended up coming to the very miniscule things that most readers wouldn't even notice. Most stories just missed out on being in the top three by a few points! So, regardless of whether you're a winner or not, basically, as cliché as it sounds, you're all winners. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

And now, onto our shortlisted books! 

STORY: Hummingbird

AUTHOR: sugarbabeniall

FEEDBACK:

The cover was a little too cluttered for me and the summary didn't really pertain to the story as a whole; the only thing mentioned in it was at the end of the story. I did love the short story though. You left the reader wondering who the main character was and hungering for more, even though it was a short story. There were some tense shifts that were noticeable as well as some areas where I think you over described and it felt like there was a lot of telling (I know, it's more of a reflection kind of story), but still, when writing, you want to show the characters. I loved how you waited till the end to reveal his name (even though it was obvious from the cover and the title). I think it's got the potential to become an actual story, with many chapters and more life to it!

STORY: Born in a Storm

AUTHOR: SouthMarie

FEEDBACK:

Absolutely loved the cover with how simple it is! I thought it was a bit off, considering how it's titled (was thinking of a supernatural type of book), but then I started reading it and realized it fits perfectly! I love the concept behind the story, and I know you warned that it wouldn't be cliched...but it kinda was from the second chapter on (having such a warm reunion with a former friend doesn't usually go so smoothly, and bitches in high school don't trip other girls, they usually just ignore you). I understand that you want to describe the characters really well, but it felt like you were over describing them and it had too much verbiage. Keep it simple and allow the reader to imagine what your characters are like. I like your MC, she's straightforward and doesn't deal with bullshit. All in all, it'd be a good story! Just lessen the descriptions and focus more on dialogues and plot. Gotta hook in the reader within the first few chapters with a plot twist!

STORY: A Little Lethal

AUTHOR: ThaisaKing

FEEDBACK:

Wowza! I'm totally guyxguy and absolutely love reading any story that even hints at it! Yours was full of it! Your cover and summary were amazing! Giving enough to the reader to entice them, though I didn't understand the *smirk* at the end of the summary. You had several character shifts within the story, without a warning, so I suggest offsetting it with a breaker. It was a little hard trying to figure out which 'he' was talking haha. Your writing was pretty good and I didn't see any noticeable mistakes, just a few missing commas here and there. I did wish there was more of a description about the characters, because I didn't really 'see them', but other than that, I have nothing else to say! This is a book with a ton of potential and I look forward to reading more some day!!

STORY: Black & White

AUTHOR: juneaugxstus

FEEDBACK:

I've always wanted to write an immortal story, and yours is amazing! The cover was a bit blurry, but I'm not sure if that was for effects or accidental. Asen (sorry, Charles), is interesting. He's an immortal that wants to die, something I've seen before, but not as obvious. Most of them stew in their emotions, not acting on them and his recent attempt landed him literally on Malix (more like his HoverCar)! I like the idea behind the story, and the way you built them up, but there were some grammar errors here and there that stuck out, as well as a kind of rush to the story. Take it slow, nothing's wrong with that :D. Again, I think this story's got potential (BoyxBoy and Immortality) and I look forward to reading more of your story! Describe more of the surroundings and build their world up; Charles has been alive for a very long time and he's probably seen many changes. Play on that maybe, or talk more about his daily life.

STORY: Perpetual Virginity

AUTHOR: solange-annick

FEEDBACK: 

Well, first of all, the idea is pretty unique and new to the eyes. Congratulations! Virginity and the oath to serve the church is an overlooked topic that most people usually disregard these days. This is pretty rare in Wattpad, and that's why I appreciate the new concept. However, it's not interesting enough for me to be invested in the story for too long. First of all, you need to make us care about Isabella first before moving on along with your work. Think of this as the new girl in the new school. She needs to know the basics first before anything else. Otherwise, how will I be interested in whatever things that will happen to her throughout the book?

To do this, first give her a direct persona and voice. Also, there were times when I almost dropped off because you were merely stating your characters in a plain, voiceless manner. How are we supposed to tell them apart if we know nothing about them yet? Give them quirks, special traits and attributes, then show them, not tell. I get that Isabella sounded offended in the first chapter, but I can't feel anything from her, which is disconcerting. There are some misused words and missing or misplaced commas, too.

Also, you just changed your cover while I'm in the middle of the judging process. Hopefully, you'll keep these things in mind.

STORY: All That We Lost

AUTHOR: Fairwinter

FEEDBACK: 

I really thought this would be a good book. At first, I was super excited. When you first start out at your prologue, it was immediately intriguing and hooked me in seconds. But after that first part you quickly went down-hill; the rest of the prologue barely made sense with the beginning, and the first chapter was all over the place. I commend your grammar usage and spelling, but I think you need to work on your sentence structure a bit. I suggest you also consider expanding your vocabulary. This book could be very good with some heavy editing and work and I wish you luck for it in the future.

STORY: Super Psycho Project

AUTHOR: MichelleManisha

FEEDBACK: 

The content of the summary was great but some bits were confusing. The spelling and vocab were perfect. To an extent, the grammar could be improved as there were some missing commas and capital letters. Furthermore, you need to remember to use new line, new speaker. The characters were strong and interesting. The speech was mostly natural but there were sometimes when it just didn't sound right. Although it lacks description and gives things away indiscreetly, the writing style was still beautiful. The plot was great and loved how science-y it was but I think some parts of the story weren't really original. 

STORY: Revival: Of Cethore

AUTHOR: Spider-Hawk

FEEDBACK: 

For the cover, I didn't think the contrasting colours worked very well. The summary was very gripping and beautifully written. There were a few errors in spelling. The grammar was generally okay but was weak in areas with semicolons, apostrophes and commas. Moreover, the sentences were unnecessarily dragged out in places. The plot was brilliant and adventurous. I thought that the characters were unique and original but there was not a lot of consistency in personality. Sometimes the speech was brilliant but at other times it was formal and strange like the usage of the word 'exterminate'. I loved the writing style as it was very elegant and descriptive. However, sometimes things were unclear. 

STORY: The Ghost

AUTHOR: TheraLance

FEEDBACK: 

I definitely thought there could have been a little bit more effort put into the cover as it was very bland. The summary was terrific apart from one tiny error. If that could be fixed then I would happily call it 'perfect'. I never noticed any problems with spelling. Honestly, the vocab was great and fitted the tone of the book perfectly, but it could have been a bit more ambitious. Lots of commas were put in the wrong places, ellipsis was often misused and that consequently caused capital letters to be put in the wrong places. The speech was a little rough around the edges and sounded very unnatural. There were some things in there that no one would ever say! As far as I could tell, the plot was okay but just a bit tedious in places. You used lots of good metaphors, descriptions and personifications. 

STORY: When the She-Psycho Meets with the He-Psycho 

AUTHOR: YiLinOoi

FEEDBACK: 

I want to say that you had successfully captured my interest based upon the title and cover alone. Yup! In all honesty, you did.

But I felt kinda... hmm, disappointed. I thought this was going to be a story like Harley Quinn's and Joker's. I thought this was going to be completely bad ass in which two psychopaths cross roads and go on some sort of crime spree, then after a bunch of events, end up falling for each other. Yeah, that would sound really mind-blowing indeed. 

Characters, by the way, are choppy and their dialogues sounded forced and farfetched. Would one "really," (in all honesty) call for a guard if someone tried to snatch their lollipop? Would a person be called a psycho if they do that, in all seriousness? Because if they do, then I might be a psycho myself. Besides, the woman's a receptionist. There's supposed to be a table/desk blocking the way.

STORY: The Elementalists

AUTHOR: PZino1

FEEDBACK: 

Absolutely loved the cover! It's one of the few that actually struck to me as a real book-like cover. Your summary was pretty good too, although there was one section, where you're talking about Sam's sister, and it felt like you said that Sam was the one with the one with the sickness (just my opinion). You started off really strong in the story, with the descriptions and world building. I enjoyed reading Kass's views and hearing his inner thoughts, but after some time, errors started popping up, mainly the tense switches (past to present). You wrote mainly in the past tense, so be careful when editing. Considering he's telling the story from where he currently is, all the verbs need to match that context, even the things going in his head. I do think you took a lot of time with his family, but it helped characterize them before that catastrophe happened. The other chapters were well written, but I think some dialogue tags need to be added, to give a feel of how the conversation is going. Great job with this book! Really enjoyed reading it.

STORY: Darkened by the Sun

AUTHOR: MagicalReads

FEEDBACK: 

I thought that the cover was a bit too simple and didn't make me want to continue reading as such. However, the image was relevant to the title. The summary was a tad bit confusing in places and was hard to comprehend. A lot of things were introduced at once and there were a few grammatical errors. In fact, the grammatical errors didn't stop there and were fairly persistent throughout the book. In particular, capital letters were used wrongly, ellipsis were in strange places, there were missed commas and commas where they shouldn't be and some confusion between tenses. I also felt that the paragraphing was used in a weird way. There were some paragraphs that were a mere line and some of them didn't even start in a way that made sense. Moreover, the writing style moved too fast and details were given away straight away in a tedious way. There was also a lack of description. On the other hand, the vocab was exciting and used in a great way. The spelling was almost perfect and the only flaws were tiny mishaps. Additionally, you showed good knowledge of the Percy Jackson characters and their personalities came across well on the page. The speech was natural and chatty. Although the plot was sort of a generic love story, it was interesting nevertheless. Overall, the story was great but could use some development in areas. 

Congratulations to everyone who made the shortlist! Now, onto our winners:

IN THIRD PLACE: 

STORY: Winter Ichor

AUTHOR: AstoriaRoses

FEEDBACK: 

Let me start with your cover. It was colorful, eye-catching, and I loved the font. You included the title and author as directed, so good job on that. Shout out to Eosophobias, who I saw made your cover, they did an awesome job.

Next, your summary. It introduced the main character, setting, and conflict, and was intriguing and exciting to read. When I started reading the first chapter, I finished the second paragraph and was immediately thrilled to see that there were 19 more chapters for me to enjoy. From what I read, I didn't see any spelling mistakes so good job on that. I liked your word choice, you used very descriptive and outside of the box words I wouldn't have thought of using. I will say that I felt like some of the dialogue was somewhat unrealistic. Many people don't have the vocabulary that your characters used. However, I understand that because this takes place in a fantasy world, their dialect is slightly different than ours. I also understand that normal dialogue is typically informal and boring, so how you changed yours actually added to the quality of the writing. For these reasons, I took off a point for vocabulary. 

There were a few grammar errors that I noticed, but punctuation was good that I saw. Good job starting a new paragraph each time another character started speaking. That's something I've seen many writers struggle with. One thing you might remember for next time is to indent before each paragraph. Next, your plot. I haven't read your entire story at the time of this writing, so I obviously won't know everything about the plot. The first chapter started off how I think any good story should start - with action. Action at the beginning intrigues the reader to keep reading and find out what happens. You did a good job of this. You revealed some background information,and dived right into the part where they find out the mutation gone wrong is alive. There's panic, tension, and excitement.

Transitioning into chapter two there's more action and excitement, as well as fear and anticipation. Pasiphae is in a rush to escape the creature and reach the security of her house. Something that helped improve your plot was your point of view. I felt that being in Pasiphae's head, feeling her feelings, hearing her thoughts, that helped the plot progress and helped me as the reader really feel like I was there. This improved the quality of your writing overall. Lastly, I'd like to say that you had a great balance between action, description, and dialogue. This is something that I personally struggle with as a writer and know that many others do too. You did a fantastic job. There was dialogue mixed in with description mixed in with action, and the result was a well written story. Again, great job, good luck, and keep writing! (I can't wait to for the next book in your series, and I haven't even finished the first one yet!)

SCORE: 87.5/100

IN SECOND PLACE:

STORY: Until We Meet Again

AUTHOR: Yugana_Penrozu

FEEDBACK: 

The cover immediately gave us an idea of the plot of the story and I think it fits perfectly. The summary was intriguing and the layout was gorgeous. Your words told the story in a beautiful way and the choice of vocab made the book very lovely to read! I am absolutely positive that there were no spelling errors. The grammar was almost perfect aside from a few minor misuses of commas. However, they did not make the story unreadable nor were they frequent. The sentence structure had a good effect. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and I was captivated by it. I loved how you made everything seem realistic and you actually could get the emotion across on the page. The plot was great and intense. Car crashes are often used in stories and I was originally expecting this book to be another book that just used one for drama. Instead, you focused on the consequences and used it for brilliant character development. I never got bored due to how touching, soft and poignant it was. The writing style was poetic, descriptive and had this effortless and ethereal air about it. 

SCORE: 89.5/100

IN FIRST PLACE: 

STORY: Of Caverns and Casters

AUTHOR: avadel

FEEDBACK: 

A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

This story is great, it's amazing! An undiscovered gem! Why does this thing have so little reads? Why???

The world-building kept me hooked from the beginning. The first chapter was a powerful one, and even though you started them off in the perspective of another character in the second part — this may sap the reader away from their investment — you handled it in a way that made me care for their distinct personality and their varying quirks. Because Leavi was up first, you had to make her voice powerful. I really liked her calculative attitude and purposely repeated her thoughts and created a few scenarios in her mind. Also, your opening phrases are marvelous, filling us with words of imagery, just like how you end each of your chapters: powerful.

Aster is my favourite character, however. The way you fashioned his flaw is realistic and hit a certain pang in me. Being a failure despite the entire family lineage being successful at the said talent. Yes, I can relate to the pressure! I think Aster is a beautifully made character indeed. I can't make guesses about what's going to happen yet, and that's amazing! You keep me on my toes, and I also wonder for Sean — though I'm more of an Aster fan now. Okay, need I say more?

Oh yeah. I'm definitely reading more! Good luck!

SCORE: 96/100

Congratulations to EVERYONE! This is the closest competition we've had, and both myself and all the judges were so incredibly impressed by the outstanding quality of the writing! A particular congratulations goes to our three winners - well done! 

As always, I will emphasise the importance of community. We would LOVE to have people come back - whether you come back to compete for another round, or whether you come to judge, we will accept you with open arms! I cannot express how happy I am to see these awards grow in size, and it's all thanks to everyone who has come back another month to deal with my spam. Thank you so much! 

Again, I will also accept feedback with an open mind. Feel free to complain, criticise, or even praise these awards. Are you not happy with the host? Too much spam? Does it feel unorganised? Let me know! I will try my best to make it a positive experience for everyone.

Anyways, see you again next month! We've got a brand new theme, and I can't wait to see where we head to from here.