SOOP announces the winners of 1st Annual Short Story Contest!

Something Or Other Publishing is happy to celebrate National Author’s Day by announcing the winners of our 1st Annual Short Story Contest. 

Our writing competition honors excellence in writing short stories and teaches the need to crowdsource readers before publication through our Anthology Program, allowing aspiring and established authors to shine and educate themselves to build a successful future in today’s commercial publishing environment. Dannelle Gay, SOOP’s Contest Coordinator, shared her perspective on our first year: 

I was pleasantly surprised at the results of SOOP’s first annual short story contest! The number of diverse stories and the quality were a testament to all the budding authors out there. I won’t kid you –– it was a lot of work to read over so many contributions –– but it was worth it! We will publish several anthologies over the next twelve months, offering publishing contract opportunities to new writers. I can only imagine what this next year will bring –– as we have doubled all the cash prizes! If you didn’t enter, I highly suggest you think about it! I never know who our next winners will be –– it could be you.

There are not enough words to thank all the established and emerging writers for giving us a glimpse at their extraordinary talent and infinite creativity. The doors of our company will always be open for passionate writers looking to earn their opportunity of becoming published authors!

Without further ado, here are the award-winning stories of SOOP’s 1st Annual Short Story Contest:

Grand Prize Winners

Fiction

Winner: The Irony of Everything by Leah Reise

First Runner Up: Greetings from Earth by Preston Dennett

Second Runner Up: The Storyteller’s Daughter by Sophie Trist

 

Non-Fiction

Winner: Pictures on the Wall by Chana Kohanchi

First Runner Up: A Sullivan Survives by Laura Underwood 

Second Runner Up: The Family by Chana Kohanchi

 

Category Winners

Fiction

Adventure

First Prize: Tales of Hunger in the Forest of Death by Amrita Chatterjee 

 

Children’s Fiction

First Prize: The Extraordinary by Joy Christopher

Second Prize: A Very Beautiful Rainbow by Marcus Mulenga 

Third Prize: Alyssum’s Wish by Danielle Ice

 

Detective & Mystery 

First Prize: The Hexagon Key by Dawn DeBraal

Second Prize: Him by Maria Rice

Third Prize: Hill, Anderson, Waggoner by Dave Anderson

 

Dystopian

First Prize: The Irony of Everything by Leah Reise

Second Prize: Generation P. by Ana Zagerson

Third Prize: Remember the Good Things, Forget the Bad Things by Lillian Brueckman 

 

Fantasy 

First Prize: The Storyteller’s Daughter by Sophie Trist

Second Prize: ​​Twelve by Wren Handman

Third Prize: Liana and the Seventh Spin by Roberta Azzopardi

 

Historical Fiction 

First Prize:  If the Lord Don’t Forgive Me by Bree Brincat

Second Prize: Harmony Hall by Chad Crossley

Third Prize: Tillamook by Doug Drowley

 

Horror

First Prize: Grace’s Garden by Jayson Allen

Second Prize: Bound Together by Morris

Third Prize: The Corvid by Chandra Menezes

 

LGBTQ+

First Prize: The Gift by Travis Myles

Second Prize: Max by Travis Myles

Third Prize: Letters for Maggie by Travis Myles

 

Romance

First Prize: The Trip for True Love by Deja Kuehn 

Second Prize: ​​Time and Elevators Heal All Wounds by Eryn LaPlant

Third Prize: Daddy Day by Billy Vera

 

Sci-Fi

First Prize: Greetings from Earth by Preston Dennett

Second Prize: Population Control by Scott Blanke

Third Prize: To Steal the Stars by Lauren Smith

 

Thriller

First Prize: A Key in the Lock by Kate Hirsch

Second Prize: Bury Your Dead by Emily Astor

 

Young Adult

First Prize: The Collector by Haley Forté

Second Prize: Dulce by Jessica Parrish 

Third Prize: Whatever It Takes by Alexia Muralles

 

Non-Fiction

Biography

First Prize: A Sullivan Survives by Laura Underwood 

Second Prize: Roy McDonald: Profile in Courage by Ken Tingley

Third Prize: The Chipper by Leah Smith

 

Families & Relationships

First Prize: Pictures on the Wall by Chana Kohanchi

Second Prize: Loosening by Chad Crossley

Third Prize: The Secret by Giovanni Margarone

 

Humor & Entertainment 

First Prize: Fish Wish by Jeremy Arthur 

Second Prize: The Chicken Lady by Rebecca Jimenez 

Third Prize: My Interview with an Airline by Marlene DeVere

 

Memoir & Autobiography

First Prize: The Family by Chana Kohanchi

Second Prize: The Little Black Book of Soyuznik by David Lutes

Third Prize: Divorce in the Time of Social Media by Lindsay Schraad

 

Motivational & Inspirational

First Prize: Between Life and Death by Sameen Azmat 

 

Religion & Spirituality 

First Prize: Crocheting in Heaven by Eve Gaal

Second Prize: Black and Benevolent is the Dark by Merville Bishop