=
Lucy-Merriman, =
TheSkaBoss and I have finished judging the Vintage Christmas Short Story Contest, and I am pleased to announce the results.
First Place'The Mucky Angel' by *
DamonWakes
The Mucky Angel It was a cold day in late November when the angel first perched atop the tree. It was not like the angels that had come before. Where once little bulbs had flickered, LEDs now beamed their glorious light out into the sky. Where once a ratty cotton garment had swung glumly in the breeze, elegant synthetic fabrics now fluttered joyfully, wreathing the plastic limbs with silken life. And where once flaking paint had stood for features—eyes and nose—a head of polyethylene looked down upon the crowd, outsmiling the children far below. The angel was a marvel, sparkling with fifty colours atop the tree, but most marvellous of all was the sign it he
He wins:
800
from *
ThornyEnglishRose.
400
courtesy of `
thorns, via me.
A copy of
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, from =
Lucy-Merriman.
Christmas presents from =
TheSkaBoss.
Second Place'The Church of St. Nicholas' by =
Tobaeus
The Church of Saint Nicholas Gordon walked through the temple, attacking cookie crumbs with his broom and blowing out candles at the altar. The supplicants had all gone home, and they wouldn't be back for another nine months or more. He rather liked it that way. Those three months were so exhausting all on their own. By the time the last night rolled around, Gordon could barely stand to hear the sound of the bells on his own shoes, much less the sounds of yet another supplicant begging for a wide screen television or for the girl at the office to notice them.
The children were no better. Too often Gordon heard them praying for the latest game system or for the
She wins:
400
from *
ThornyEnglishRose 300
courtesy of `
thorns, via me.
A copy of
Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris, from =
Lucy-Merriman.
Christmas presents from =
TheSkaBoss.
Third Place'The Last Christmas' by ~
NamelessShe
The Last Christmas This Christmas had to be the best one. There was no other choice. It was the last.
Emdee wiped the grease off the red spanner with an old rag. By the third swipe, it almost looked presentable. Dom would notice if it wasn't. Even down to the tiniest speck. Sometimes she wondered if he'd do anything to get out of paying the piddling bit they'd agreed upon. She'd cleaned every nook, cranny, and surface area in the store for longer than her shift allowed already. He had zero chance of getting out of paying her.
The Christmas lights flickered red, green, and gold down the promenade.
"You done yet?" Dom asked. He looked up from the display,
She wins:
200
from *
ThornyEnglishRose.
100
courtesy of `
thorns, via me.
A copy of
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket and Lisa Brown, from =
Lucy-Merriman.
Christmas presents from =
TheSkaBoss.
Judges' Picks I have stolen the idea (you may know from whom) of having each judge pick a favourite. I was hoping for three separate picks, but two judges chose the same piece, and of course that's a fantastic achievement for the author.
&
Both my fellow judges picked ~
NamelessShe's
The Last Christmas. =
Lucy-Merriman chose it 'because it's the only story that actually made me tear up for being so darn heartfelt. Nothing's more Vintage Christmas than that!', while =
TheSkaBoss says she picked it 'purely because I'm a sucker for dystopian sci-fi'.
Many congratulations, ~
NamelessShe. Each judge's pick wins 100 points from my points pool, meaning that you win 200!
My pick is =
Tobaeus's
The Church of St. Nicholas, because Santa has always been my favourite part of Christmas, and I just love this new take on the mythos all nicely gift-wrapped in a succinct, yet loaded, and utterly sweet story.
=
Tobaeus also wins a further 100 points from the pool. The remaining 130 pool points have been divided between my judges, Lucy and Helen, as a thank-you and a reward for their hard work.
Prize Pool Donors =
kel20~
orphicfiddler~
Euxiom*
SubjugatedSandwich Entry GalleryDo check out the other entries. It's no lie when I say this was very close, and there was some discrepancy in the judges' results, meaning that there are some other really great stories in there that you might consider quite as good as the winners.
Thanks and Christmassy goodwill go out to the judges, prize donors, entrants and everyone who helped spread the word.
So what do you do now? Try this:
Critmas is here! (Last Day!)
Today is the LAST DAY for you to get your 12 critiques in! Make sure you leave a comment in this journal linking all your pieces. There's plenty of prizes up for grabs 
Remember you have until 11:59 PM pst TODAY to complete your critiques!
On the first day of Critmas, a deviant gave to me.
Back by popular demand, I bring you...
The 12 days of CRITMAS challenge!
"CRITMAS IS COMING, THE PROSE IS GETTING FAT. OUT COMES THE RED PEN TO GET RID OF THAT!" (`Memnalar)
Now most of you are relaxing and chilling out on your Christmas vacations; some of you have time off work/school and will be staying at home in the warm over the next week or so. So why don't we make use of that hermit time and do something productive? Get your onesie on, warm up a mince pie, pour yourself a Baileys and let’s get comfortable around our computers!
The Challenge
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
Theme
this journal 
But of course there are always the rules......
Please please please fave the journal!
Make another journal about this giveaway and provide a link of that journal in the comments (this will help spread the word about this giveaway)
oints: courtesy of `thorns, via me.
mas: Third Place
And serious congratulations to ~NamelessShe. It's one thing to come up with a story that people like, but it's quite another to write something that they really love.
Interestingly enough, my top pick didn't make the top three either, so our results must have been really weird.
Merry Christmas!
(MERRY CHRISTMAS!