Thank you to everyone who entered the writing contest. We received a total of seven entries, so our judging process had to be amended to accommodate the circumstances. Here is how our judging was conducted.

I personally read every entry as it came in and made notes on specific points I felt needed work.There were several things I looked for beyond the technical aspect.

The story needed to be a romance or have romantic elements. We had one entry I felt was ready to send out to agents, but didn’t meet our guidelines. In the best interest of the story and author’s potential, I had to pass but gave them some advice on sending it out.

Hook: The story had to hook me emotionally beyond the first page. A good romance must pull the reader in and make them want to invest in the character.

Plot: The plot/premise set up needed to be at least remotely believable.

Technical and creative execution.

Three entries stood out from the seven received and scored with a 9 or higher. Two other judges read the pulled entries and ranked them.

The winners are:

1st place – Carmon Steele – Dark Prophecy (a paranormal romance with non-sparkly vampires)
2nd place – Carmon Steele – Wings of Justice (a paranomal romance – shifters gargoyles) *I love gargoyles.*
3rd place – J. Reid – More Real Than Romance (a m/m erotic romance)

Carmon wins a full crit on Dark Prophecy and a 15 page crit on Wings of Justice. J. wins a 15 page crit. I am thrilled to be working with these two writers!