It’s time for another contest announcement! We’re BEYOND excited to announce the winners of our Best Chapters Contest! It seems like making a decision each time gets harder and harder. There are so many talented writers and we are constantly in awe of you all! Please take a moment to pat yourself on the back if you were brave enough to share your stories. Many thanks for your patience while you waited for a response. A massive thank you to our guest judge, Soman Chainani, NYT Bestselling Author of The School of Good & Evil series, and Beasts and Beauty, Leah Pierre at Ladderbird Literary Agency for assistance with feedback to our finalists, and Hannah VanVels-Ausbury at Belcastro Agency for assisting with mini workshops for all our submitters!
And now the moment you know you can’t wait for!
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Drum Roll Please!
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First Place Winner:
Ra’Niqua Lee for Infinity Bound
Second Place Winner:
Genevieve Abravanel for Say the Right Thing
Third Place Winner:
Christopher Renna for Endless Sky
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Finalists (in no particular order):
Julia Hou for Say it in Chinese
Edward Jackson for The Altar Boy’s Alternative Handbook
Cristina dos Santos for When Night Comes
Kennedy Thurmond for 17 Revolutions
Lacey Yong for Dauntless
Janice Torres for Embrace the Dark
Bowie Rowan for You Will Know Elasticity
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Longlist (in no particular order):
Kayla Mroch for Evangeline
Chelsea Greer for Flames of Ashmore
Sandhya Jain-Patel for Agneya of Salt and Flame
Sierra Morris for Personals
Dakota Shain Byrd and Bridgette Johnson for The Southern Queers’ Guide to Curse-Breaking and Monster Hunting
April Snellings for The Electric Girls
Vijaya Bodach for Emergency
Chelsea M. Brown for Phoenix Flight
Tyra Douyon for Shout Me Home
Alexandra Fallgren for How the Light Gets In
Maya Afilalo for Not Just Anybody
Kayla Green for The Grief Monster
T.A. Joseph for A Kinder Sea
Hillora Lang for Light From the Stars
H.D. Hunter for Rosewood
M’Shai Dash for City of Prisms and Orbs
Charles Robertson for Prayers From The Middle Of Nowhere
Amanda J. Floresca for Smooth Criminal
Shannon Sharrock for Under a Blanket of Stars
A.J. Mietke for A Witch’s Crime
Florence Ivey for A Crown of Chains
J.C. Stevens for The Girl Who Swallowed The Flame