Epy Shorts 2017

EPY SHORTS

PRIZES:

Top 1 receives a post promotion of their stories, Instagram account, a free interview and the spotlight feature on our website.

Top 2 - 10 receives a follow back and a feature on our website.

ALL PARTICIPANTS receive a follow-back.

Write a 300 to 800 word prose excerpt/novella based on either of the following prompts:

1) I Can Hear You (Brian A.) - You were involved in a terrible car accident and have been in a coma for the past three months. What your family and the doctors don’t know is that you can hear everything that they say. Write the scene.

2) Episodic (Aisha Ayesha) - Write a one-shot involving one or more characters from your existing Episode story.

3) The End of the Bucket List (Brian A.) - Write a story about a character who finds out that he or she is dying and has been knocking things off his/her bucket list and has finally reached the last item.

4) Mysterious Call (Brian A.) - Your phone rings in the middle of the night. An indiscernible voice speaks: “There is a car waiting for you outside your house. Get inside. You don’t want to ignore this.” Finish the scene.

5) ImPOSTer (Aisha Ayesha) - You're an avid blogger and you've been posting for years. Suddenly you hope on Facebook, notice there are several posts from you, but you didn't write them...

HOW TO ENTER

1) Repost the image (left), tag us @theepyawards on Instagram in the caption and image, and use #epyshorts.
2) State Story Title, Author, Genre/s, ShortSummary, Word Count
3) Fill in the form (below) on the website and submit your document!

CONTEST OVER

Total No. of Entries: 22
REVIEWER/JUDGE: @authoressthings

RUBRICS
CONTEST RESULTS
HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Marking Scheme/ Grade	1 (D)	2 (C)	3 (B)	4(A)
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	The plot is lacking originality and creativity. The author is unable to make aspects of the story unique in its own way. The content written in the story lacks some action and is not able to engage the readers. Length of the episodes are not sufficient and are not interactive.	The plot is somewhat original and creative. The author is able to make aspects of the story slightly unique in its own way. The content written in the story is enjoyable and is nicely represented. Length of the episodes are sufficient and quite engaging.	The plot is quite original and creative. The author is able to make aspects of the story unique in its own way. The content written in the story is quite exciting and is well-represented. Length of episodes are reasonably long, enjoyable and engaging.	The plot is very original and creative. The author is able to make aspects of the story unique in its own way. The content written in the story is very exciting and is well-represented. Length of episodes are long, enjoyable and engaging.
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	There are a lot of errors found in the story. The story is difficult to read through and this impacts the reader negatively.	There are some errors found in the story. The story is relatively easy to read through but the errors do somewhat impact the reader negatively.	There are minimal errors found in the story. The story is easy to read through and the errors do not impact the reader negatively.	There are minimal (or no) errors found in the story. The story is a breeze to read through and this impacts the reader positively.
Reader Engagement (Impact of the story based on the relevance of the genre/s)	The story leaves no impact on the reader, in terms of bringing out the genre/s. Readers are not emotionally invested and are unable to follow through the story.	The story leaves a mild impact on the reader, in terms of bringing out the genre/s. Readers are a bit emotionally invested and are able to follow through some parts of the story.	The story leaves some impact on the reader, in terms of bringing out the genre/s. Readers are somewhat emotionally invested and are able to follow through most of the story.	The story leaves a strong impact on the reader, in terms of bringing out the genre/s. Readers are emotionally invested and are able to follow through the entire story.
Overall rating and conclusion	The author has attempted to bring out one or two of the essential elements listed above, but the story could use some work. Good effort, though!	The author manages to bring out some of the essential elements listed above, and the result is a decent story.	The author succeeds in bringing out most of the essential elements listed above, and the result is a good story.	The author succeeds in bringing out all of the essential elements listed above, and the result is a well-written story. Well done!

TOP #1

FOLLOW MeMyselfandI

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.8
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	4
Reader Engagement (Impact)	4
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.9/4 The story dealt with a lot of heavy themes such as death, loss, and repressed emotions. I personally am weak to these themes, having experienced them myself so it was hard for me to not to be emotionally invested. The story had perfect grammar, syntax is incredibly refreshing, and the formatting of paragraphs was excellent! Although the story did not meet the 800 maximum word mark, it scored the highest out of the top 3, therefore winning the top spot. Such an incredibly melancholic story, it actually brought a tear to my eye and really tugged at all my heartstrings.

TOP #2

FOLLOW END TABLE

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.5
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	4
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3.5
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.6/4 The story had perfect grammar. Syntax is incredibly unique and sophisticated (that half of the time while reading, my inner voice was of a British boy), however formatting of paragraphs could have been better! Emotional impact was definitely there at the end of the story.

TOP #3

FOLLOW JOAN OF EPISODE

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.6
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	4
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.5/4 The plot was very unique. Perfect grammar, syntax was simple but enlightening, and formatting of paragraphs made it easy to follow through! Emotional impact only emerged near the end of the story because it took me a while to understand the context of the plot. Overall, an enchanting story!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.3
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.7
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.3/4 The plot solely stuck to the prompt given so I wish it could have been manipulated/altered even more. Great grammar and syntax, however, I didn't quite understand the effect of centering all paragraphs in terms of formatting. Emotional impact wasn't strong enough for me but the effort and attempt was definitely there.

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.5
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3.5
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.3/4 The plot was unique but was difficult to grasp due to the sudden jump into a particular scene so background context took a while to sink in. Great grammar and syntax, however, I wasn't a big fan of how the paragraphs were closely joined in a chunk. It became visually displeasing to read after the first page. Emotional impact was visibly quite strong at the very end.

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.1
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.3
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3.5
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.3/4 The plot took me a few minutes to grasp but it was ultimately nicely presented. Great grammar, syntax was simple and clean, and the paragraphs were nicely formatted. Emotional impact, however, wasn't really there for me because there were a lot of gaps context-wise. At the end, it did leave me wondering who Basil was comparing Gemma to!

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.4
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.5
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3.2
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.3/4 I thought the plot was lovely, even though it was very simple. The story had great grammar and syntax was simple yet the vocabulary was pretty sophisticated. The paragraphs, however, could have been separated to form smaller chunks. Emotional impact was definitely there although it wasn't heavy because of the nature of the plot.

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	3.5
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3.2/4 The fact that author had courage to incorporate real live events into this story was commendable, but would have been good to place a warning, because it can really trigger those whom had experienced such events. The story had great grammar and syntax was simple. The switch between first person and second person narrative was very interesting as it added to reader engagement. The formatting made it easy to follow through, however, the emotional impact was slightly lacking due to the lack of elaboration and gaps of information especially during the last bit. The story could have been emotionally heart-wrenching but the leaps in the timeline were too fast for readers to process.

BY DEVI A.

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	2.9
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.5
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3/4 The story had great grammar and syntax was pretty simple. The formatting made it easy to follow through, however, the emotional impact wasn't there for mostly because the uniqueness of the story was lacking. I was expecting (and hoping) for a twist at the end but it never came. The story would have been a lot better if the author veered away from the typical 'fall-in-love-before-you-die' trope. Nevertheless, still a fairly good story!

BY EMILY HAYNES

Marking Scheme	Score
STORY (Plot, Content & Flow)	2.9
LANGUAGE (Grammar & Spelling)	3.2
Reader Engagement (Impact)	3
Overall Rating and Conclusion	3/4 The plot wasn't the most unique but the author's ability to engage reader with the natural and fluid dialogues makes up for it. Grammar could have been better if it was proofread closely, but syntax was great overall. Again, I wasn't a big fan of how the paragraphs were closely joined in a chunk, it would be nice to give a bit of room between the lines and paragraphs so readers don't get put off visually. Emotional impact was strong throughout, mostly because of the well-written dialogues and the mysterious open ending that the author left us with.