APPRECIATING the 'Unscramble' Challenge Winners

APPRECIATION - My twelve-letter word for all of you in response to your genius in taking on my slightly crazy challenge. I know this one seemed a bit daunting, but the creators on this platform showed up with incredible style, creativity, wit, and sheer bravery for indulging this idea of mine.

If I counted correctly, there were thirty-three entries, six of which received Top Story. Kudos to everyone that entered and much gratitude to all of the readers!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a fair number of micro fiction entries amongst the throng of poems, and quite a wide variety of words and themes.

Some creators were able to exclusively (or just shy of) use only unscrambled words in their entries. Others added in additional levels of form constraints, making their piece an abecedarian or a villanelle or even a pantoum. And there was one creator, with special permission from the judging committee (read that as yours truly) that used a slightly made up word.

Whew! Needless to say, this challenge was incredibly difficult to narrow down to a short list. And I'm forever grateful for your engagement - thank you.

I could certainly wax poetic about every one of these entries, which I have on each individual story, but I'll get right to the awarding? Knighting? Bestowment? Choose your title :)

~

Well, here we are...the unveiling! I promised a first place, second place and probably some third place winners, and that's pretty much what I stuck with this time, just slightly expanded.

First-place winner for Poetry ($20) - Wordsmithing by D.K. Shepard

Not only did D.K. use an incredible 76 unscrambled words, but the piece was still cohesive and flowed so well. I was in love with the 12-letter word choice, wordsmithing, right from the title. This was everything I'd hoped for out of this challenge and just so happened to be the last official entry. Kudos to you, D.K., for absolutely showing up for this challenge. Wordsmith, indeed.

First-place winner for Micro fiction ($20) - Acknowledged by Lamar Wiggins

Lamar's amazing piece received a top story from Vocal and after reading, it's not hard to see why. This micro had it all–a bit of suspense, mystery and some serious emotional resonance. And then the revelation starts to unwind, and you realize what it's all about. I was simply blown away by the powerful, overall message. Fantastic!!

Second-place winner for Poetry ($10) - Asphyxiation by Paul Stewart

I knew right away when I read this entry that it would be a contender in this challenge. Paul delivered a poetic masterpiece. The main word delivers such a punch right from the start, and then the image hits, not just the visual, haunting one, but the scene that begins to play in your mind as the poem continues, slowly suffocating you. Brilliant work!

Second-place winner for Micro fiction ($10) - Serendipitic by Celia in Underland

This was a full-on story with a beginning, middle and end! I know that sounds redundant to say as it's placing in a micro fiction category, but with the word constraints, this unfolded so seamlessly. And it was quite an engaging story too with such a clever conclusion. I was ready to follow along on the character's next adventure! A++

Third-place winner for Poetry ($5) - Competitions by Thavien Yliaster

Thavien came with his A game for the challenge and wowed me with this 'competitive' piece. His use of language was really top notch. And of course it appealed to my nerdy, science side with words like isotonic, osmotic and septic. There was also a skillful display of rhyming which made the whole thing have a rap kind of feel. It all just worked so well!

Third-place winner for Micro fiction ($5) - Flex by Kendall Defoe

With three entries in the mix, Kendall kept coming with his wonderful micro fiction piece. I felt the struggle of this person, their internal conflict playing out in the confines of a weight room. And the last line was gold, bringing it all home. I felt lighter for having read it, if that makes any sense. But you don't have to trust my judgement, you can read for yourselves and see! Wonderful work, Kendall :)

~

If you didn't get a chance to read all of the entries, I highly encourage you to take a look at them. Really clever work. I've included the original challenge piece with all the links in the comments.

As always, this was an incredible pleasure and honor to host.

Until next time,

~H

Note: Monies will be paid as tips to the winning Vocal stories by Wednesday, May 1st, 2024.