May More in Nightcafe

Let’s Meet the Tantalizing Tales Finalists

So now it is time to move on to the final round of the Tantalizing Tales Fiction Contest.

All the judges— Grandma Smillew, Teresa Wymore, Posy Churchgate, Marsha Adams, Marie A. Rebelle and me May More — have been blown away by the quality of the stories as well as the differing plots and ways the theme of change has been used.

Now it is time to let you know which writers have made it through to the final.

Marking Criteria

Here are the criteria the judges looked at when marking a story.

1. Characterisation: Does the author create believable characters (whatever the genre) — with individuality?
2. Plot: Has the author constructed a clear, compelling storyline with a recognisable beginning, middle and end?
3. Theme: How effectively and originally does the story use the contest theme?
4. Writing: Are there grammatical or punctuation errors? Are words spelled or used incorrectly?
5. Storytelling: Does this story engage the reader’s emotions and lead them to invest in the characters and plot?

As there were six judges in the first round, each story ended up with a score out of 300. We then calculated the Mean and Median.