RHP Prose Contest 2017 - results!

Well, it seems that no prose contest here or wherever else is possible without at least a slight cause for a controversy.

Namely, I received 4 votes by PM in last hour before deadline.

In the contest announcement I said nothing about anonymous voting, I explicitly said that voting and commenting should take place in the thread. Only anonymous writers no anonymous voters.

All voters who sent me their votes by pm voted for same entry as No1, but three of them also gave theirs votes for the entry which - before I received those messaged votes - held 1st place!

Well, I included also those PM votes, but only due the following reasons--->>>
1. Those voters were not unknown or newly members without a single move made. They have rating, have been members for years and some of them I met on Popeye forum in some crazy Taiwan Canasta undressing game, but that's another story...

2. More importantly, those votes did not affect 1st place!
They affected second place. And since only the winner is that matters, and that only the winner should expect a prize, so, as I said, I accepted those last-minute PM votes.

Well, good morning America and good evening Bruxelles, here come the votes-------->>>>>

Entries with no single vote:
Places 9-10.
PERRY FLUTTER AND THE SEWER OF DREAD
SPHERES

Entries with 3 points (one second place each)
Place 7-8.
ORIGINALITY
RED HOT PORN STORY

places 6, 5 and 4

6. A BRIE ENCOUNTER by kevcvs35 12 votes
5. LACKAWANNA by mike 169 15 votes
4. A BRIE ENCOUNTER by mike 169 17 votes

First three places

Winner
1. FIFTEEN MINUTES OF CARE by Ghost of a Duke 31 votes

2. IT'S ONE O'CLOCK AND TIME FOR LUNCH by drewnogal 30 votes

3. VULTURES by mike 169 22 votes

I congratulate to Ghost of a Duke and invite him to send me his address to PM so as I can snail-mail him an award...

I congratulate also to all other contestants for their pieces of prose - Bukowski and Carver can happily rest in peace.

Originally posted by vandervelde
Well, it seems that no prose contest here or wherever else is possible without at least a slight cause for a controversy.

Namely, I received 4 votes by PM in last hour before deadline.

In the contest announcement I said nothing about anonymous voting, I explicitly said that voting and commenting should take place in the thread. Only anonymous write ...[text shortened]... all other contestants for their pieces of prose - Bukowski and Carver can happily rest in peace.

There seems to be a conflict involving places 6 and 4.

Originally posted by HandyAndy
There seems to be a conflict involving places 6 and 4.

Thanks for the correction.
I wrote it 01 O'clock in the morning local time, I apologize for the mistake.

Positions from 6-4 are as follows

6. BILL by mike169 5 votes
5. LACKAWANNA by mike169 15 votes
4. A BRIE ENCOUNTER by kevcvs57 17 votes . .

I apologize again.

So the anonymous votes have put me into second place and I'm of course delighted that some people read and liked my entry but where in the rules was it mentioned that votes could be made by a private message to yourself? The voting is usually made public?

It is a bit of excitement: waiting for the entries to be introduced, the fun reading them all and then seeing the names behind the stories. It takes some courage to participate.
My thanks to all the writers and my congratulations to the top three: Ghost of a Duke as the winner, and also Drewnogal and Mike 169 .

Yes I thought the standard was very good this year, I enjoyed them all, congrats to the top dogs, also well done and special thanks to you vandervelde for doing all the hard work.
Thanks to anyone who allotted my effort some points, in my humble opinion you have excellent taste 🙂

Originally posted by kevcvs57
Yes I thought the standard was very good this year, I enjoyed them all, congrats to the top dogs, also well done and special thanks to you vandervelde for doing all the hard work.
Thanks to anyone who allotted my effort some points, in my humble opinion you have excellent taste 🙂

Fun story! 🙂

Originally posted by Torunn
Fun story! 🙂

Thanks Torun I just hope they weren't to badly hurt when they hit that delivery van, they seemed like nice people 🙂

Thanks to all those who voted, and of course all the other participants. (It was a close run thing!)
I'm a little surprised (and humbled) to have won 2 years in a row, as my entry this year was deliberately out of my comfort zone. (I have to constantly resist the urge to introduce humour).

Thanks also to Vandervelde for picking up the organizer mantle.

Good show Duke and Drew!

Yeah congrats everyone...and I admit to have my two stories in the two low categories ...

Originally posted by Ponderable
Yeah congrats everyone...and I admit to have my two stories in the two low categories ...

They were all good entries and the placement of each is a personal choice. Congrats to all.

Originally posted by kevcvs57
Thanks Torun I just hope they weren't to badly hurt when they hit that delivery van, they seemed like nice people 🙂

You know, I think they ended up in the hospital together, and because of that, they got the chance to get to know each other better than the date might have led to. Charming story. 🙂

Originally posted by Torunn
You know, I think they ended up in the hospital together, and because of that, they got the chance to get to know each other better than the date might have led to. Charming story. 🙂

You're going to give him a big head.

Originally posted by Great Big Stees
You're going to give him a big head.

That's how people meet sometimes, I think... I hope.