The story of the week for September 28 to October 2 is…

Sea and Sky by William Shaw

Eerie, mysterious, atmospheric. I love this style of sci fi, and I’m impressed to see it accomplished in just 50 words.

The story of the week for September 21 to 25 is…

One Night Stand by Pat Campbell

I have a real soft spot for well executed perspective shifts, and this one does it exquisitely, with a brilliant little “Huh?” moment and genuine humour.

The story of the week for September 14 to 18 is…

The Missing Wallet by Katya Duft

It’s great to get a humorous story that doesn’t smack you in the face with a punchline. Character humour is difficult to accomplish in 50 words, but I think we’ve met some great characters here with a fun story to tell.

The story of the week for September 7 to 11 is…

Toothbrush, Toothbrush, Toothbrush by Kenneth Hamner

Amusing, creatively structured, and with a message behind it all. An effective story from multiple angles.

The story of the week for August 31 to September 4 is…

One Job From Retirement by Guy Preston

The “reveal” in this story is so subtle and yet hits so hard.

The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.

The finalists for August were:

Abducting Abby by Quentin Norris
You Are Standing In My Moonlight by Jeff Holland
La Costa by Roberto Carcache Flores
Southern Rim by Joe Lunne

The winner of the August 2015 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

You Are Standing In My Moonlight

It’s a story is about what makes us human, about grasping onto our humanity and embracing beauty. Jeff got this message across with a great combination of sincerity and humour, and that’s what earned him this selection.

The story of the week for August 24 to 29 is…

Southern Rim by Joe Lunne

Great emotional connection to the characters and a clear message are two things I value very highly in a 50-word story!

I’ve finally managed to work through the huge backlog of submissions we had generated, so it’s time to announce a new submissions model for 50WS, one that will hopefully allow more people to participate in sending their stories to the site, without leading to more massive backlogs with two-month or longer wait times to hear back on their submissions.

Here’s How It Will Work

Each month, submissions will be open for the first 15 days of the month. Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will not be read (but can be submitted in the next month). Each author may only submit one story per month.

From the stories received in those 15 days, the best stories will be selected to be published the following month. Only enough stories will be selected to publish two stories per weekday.

Stories that were not selected will not be published, will not roll over into the following month, and cannot be resubmitted in following months. Authors will be notified whether their story has been selected or not once all stories from the month’s submissions have been reviewed. This will prevent huge backlogs.

What Won’t Change

The Top Stories program will not be affected. I will still choose a story of the week, story of the month, and story of the year in the same way.

Implementation

It’s too late for this system to be in place for September’s stories, so as of today I am temporarily reopening a traditional approach to submissions, until we have enough new stories to cover the month of September. The new system will kick in as of October 2015.

I hope this will help me maintain the site more efficiently and make it a more rewarding experience to submit your stories to the site. I’m looking forward to receiving more stories from all of you again!

P.S. If any issues with this system arise, I’ll tweak it as necessary. It will be an experiment at first, but I think it will work out well overall.

The story of the week for August 17 to 21 is…

La Costa by Robert Carcache Flores

It’s a wistful, poetic thing of beauty, inspiring a lot of imagination.

The story of the week for August 10 to 14 is…

You Are Standing in My Moonlight by Jeff Holland

A wonderful little piece of creative philosophy and what it means to be human.

Honourable mention to After the Party by Ana Drobot.