Winners!

We are pleased to announce the winners of Phase 1 of the contest.

The winners of each category, as decided by the reviewing public, are as follows:

Category Winners

Smut Fest ~ Possession by Paxnirvana

Raging Fire of Sadness ~ To Bury the Hurt of Memory by Alyssa Tay Toneko

Fuzzy Kittens ~ A Fine Day for a Group Outing by KnM & Alyssa Tay

Fun & Games ~ Green-Eyed Monster by Wiggle

Epics ~ The Conviction of Solitude, by Missa and Katherine

Out of this World ~ Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by KnM

Farfarello's Blade Lickers' Award ~ Slavery by KnM

Final Curtain ~ My Last Breath by Vampire Louis

Congratulations to our winners! Each of you will receive an award banner, and a banner designed to your own specifications - Gwen will be in touch soon to discern your needs.

There were a lot of excellent stories in the contest, and some of the results were very close. Special mention in particular to Paxnirvana's 'Water' and Alyssa Tay's 'Der Anfange & Das Ende', both of which missed out by just a few marks.

In the case of categories where there was only one entry, by the way, a minimum score of an average 40 out of a possible 50 marks was set to ensure the entries were up to standard, as all the winners in the contested categories scored at or higher than this.

We found it very hard to select the best story from all the entries, and decided that two near-winners deserved an extra award:

Honourable Mentions

Addiction ~ Nekojita

For a beautifully drawn relationship between Aya and Yohji, and incredibly hot smut.

Aya Tells Omi about the Bees and the Bees ~ Alyssa tay Toneko

For making us both laugh out loud, giving us serious fuzzies, and again, for incredibly hot smut.

And finally...

Best in Show

Possession ~ Paxnirvana

Among so many very good stories, we felt that Possession shows outstanding writing. It scored highest of any of the stories rated by readers a staggering average of 49 marks out of a possible 50, and we agreed with them. It's tightly composed, the characters are real and three-dimensional, the descriptions vivid, and the sex is amazing: gritty, real and yet still so hot that it left us dissolving in puddles of drool.

Paxnirvana wins a story written by ourselves, to her own specifications, plus 5 Weiß Kreuz DVDs, as well as a spiffy award banner to put on Circle of Hell.

Don't forget, all of the entries for Phase 1, alongside the Challenge entries, are still eligible for the Readers' Choice award to win a commission from PL Nunn to illustrate the story, plus 6 months paid livejournal account. Look out for details as to how you can vote from the end of November.

Huge thanks to Penny of Vortex fansubs, for the donation of the Weiß Kreuz DVDs.