The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month. The finalists for August were:

Through the Window by Alex Mascarenhas
Old Age by Catherine Mathews
There Goes Spot Again by Michael Coolen
First Impressions by Katya Duft
Burial At Sea by Jim Purdy

The winner of the August 2014 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

Through the Window

Congratulations, Alex!

The story of the week from August 25 to 29 is Burial At Sea by Jim Purdy.

There was a lot of conversation about this story in the comments. It’s a touching tribute to a fallen friend, told in a matter-of-fact style, and despite its lack of flowery emotion it clearly resonated with the readers who have been rating it so highly. Thank you for contributing this story, Jim.

The story has now been removed from the site, at the author’s request.

The story of the week from August 18 to 22 is First Impressions by Katya Duft.

There’s a great transition between emotions in this story, allowing the reader to feel like they’ve gone on a journey with the character. Well done, Katya!

The story of the week from August 11 to 15 is There Goes Spot Again by Michael Coolen.

I love how this story sets up for a pretty simple comedic twist, but then over-delivers on the punchline. Well done, Michael!

Apologies for the delay on announcing last week’s winning story. I’ve been away on holidays.

The story of the week from August 4 to 8 is Old Age by Catherine Mathews.

As the commenters have pointed out, there’s great emotion in this piece, and that’s why it earned the selection.

The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced on the previous month. The finalists for July were:

Dream by Azarin Sadegh
Sitting by Jennifer L Freed
Blood Diamonds by Patricia Albela-Silver
Paper Crosses by J Ian Manczur

The winner of the July 2014 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

Paper Crosses

Congratulations, Ian!

Last week’s winning story is Through the Window, by Alex Mascarenhas.

The story does a really good job of making us think about our fear of death. Ultimately, death is an inherent part of living. How would our lives change if we treated death as the final adventure, the last story we get to tell, rather than something horrible and terrifying? Great work.

Last week’s winning story is Paper Crosses by J Ian Manczur.

I chose this story because of its strong use of juxtaposition. On the one hand, we see the apparent emptiness of “an essay and a check” and some simple paper crosses. Who does this pastor think he is, playing around with these useless credentials and empty symbols? And then on the other hand, we have the pastor’s incredible willingness to “forgive what the dead never could”. That offer of forgiveness is truly noteworthy, and is way more meaningful than the paper crosses themselves.

And yet, naturally, perhaps, the prisoner is a skeptic.

Well done, Ian!

Last week’s winning story is Sitting by Jennifer L Freed!

Last week’s winning story is Blood Diamonds by Patricia Albela-Silver!