Time to spread more good news—just in time for the holiday season! We’re jumping for joy today because we’ve got the results for the summer 2021 First Chapters Contest! As always, you all made it an incredibly tough decision! Every single submitter deserves a pat on the back for your bravery and your talent. A sincere thanks for your patience as you awaited the response. Huge thank you to our guest judge, Sona Charaipotra, Author of Symptoms of a Heartbreak, How Maya Got Fierce, and Tiny Pretty Things (now on Netflix!), Leah Pierre at Ladderbird Literary Agency for assistance with feedback to our finalists, and Amy Bishop at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret for assisting with mini workshops for all our submitters!
Now, get ready for the big moment!
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Drum roll, please!
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First Place Winner:
Hannah Lamarre for Slow Notes Toward a Symphony of Longing
Second Place Winner:
Loretta Chefchaouni for Afterdeath
Third Place Winner:
Sunil Bhatia for No One’s Prince
Honorable Mention:
Zahra Zelle for Born From the Flames
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Finalists (in no particular order):
Krista Surprenant for Season of Dandelions
Harmony Heart for Hush Forest
Kayla Green for The Grief Monster
Hope Bissell for Hazed
Alie Jones for Memories of Molasses
Arriel Vinson for The Freedom of Falling
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Longlist (in no particular order):
Joseph Emmanuel for The Hourmaker
Masha Shukovich for The Taste of Names
Leyao Xiao for Überhero
Linda Masi for Legends of Uwah: The Year of Fire
Marie Powell for I C U
Rose Thorne for Book Fair
Catherine Con Morse for The Notes
Catherine Boyd for Bricks
Brittaney Barfield for Tapped By Fire
Victoria Kimble for The Hurricane Keeper
Taylor Garcia for The Lovefools
Elisa Zied for It Was the Music
Constance Roberts for Chord & Crystal
Courtney Glazer for The Scars We Hide
Marissa Snyder for The Fallow Years
Annie Lisenby Smith for Junior Year Bites
Elizabeth Arredondo for North Star
Jessica Stevens for It Dare Not Speak
Lisa Reiss for Signs, Predictions, Kurt Cobain, and Me
Michael Fountain for Devil’s Night
Nicky Zhang for Sunbringer
Francesco Moramarco for The Trickster
Gwendolyn Wilkins for The Journey of a Tree Mage
Adriana Woolley for Song Cry
Clemintine Guirado for Orphan From the Stars
Stephan Nance for Feminist Bird Club
Jenna Lehne for Crimson Daughters
Vaughn-Shane Camarda for The Culling
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo for Dear Lupe
Christina Trujillo for What Remains
Robert Wilson for The Invisible Watcher
Katherine Christensen for Talking Back to Grief