Paul Harland Award
Whee!
Yesterday, I won first place in the Dutch Paul Harland Awards - a yearly Dutch language competition for sf and fantasy shorts. Yay! Most money anybody ever got for a short story. I'll probably never get paid that much again...
I won with my OWW-workshopped story "Je-weet-wel Sater. So many thanks to the workshop and all those who critted the story, which made it infinitely better.
I sent in my submission this spring, and I hadn't heard a thing until this week. Usually this means you're not going to get the job/award/whatever, but apparently not so...I gët an email I was nominated for the first 15. I'm having trouble with my sinuses, so I decided I probably wouldn't go.
But then the organizer of the event started emailing me with increasing pressure to come! It seemed to me I would be getting some kind of prize or award ( since there are several smaller prizes to be had as well). I took my teenage son, drove into the windy buttcrack of beyond, arrived late because I'd to park about two miles away. Soon it became clear I was a finalist, since the presenter was so kind as to announce the names of the people who hadn't made it by alphabet.
A strange feeling settled inside my stomach. From that moment on I knew I'd won something, and the feeling was mounting. Irrational, I guess, since I had no way of knowing if I got fifth place or first, but still. The feeling was there. I told it to go away. My heartbeat went through the roof.
I got a 'highest scoring newcomer prize' straight off. You could say that should have settled my incipient winner feeling, but it didn't. More prizes, for best sf story, fifth place, third place - and then the first place was announced. Yours truly again.
I won with a big score gap between me and the second place! Yay me!
Yesterday, I won first place in the Dutch Paul Harland Awards - a yearly Dutch language competition for sf and fantasy shorts. Yay! Most money anybody ever got for a short story. I'll probably never get paid that much again...
I won with my OWW-workshopped story "Je-weet-wel Sater. So many thanks to the workshop and all those who critted the story, which made it infinitely better.
I sent in my submission this spring, and I hadn't heard a thing until this week. Usually this means you're not going to get the job/award/whatever, but apparently not so...I gët an email I was nominated for the first 15. I'm having trouble with my sinuses, so I decided I probably wouldn't go.
But then the organizer of the event started emailing me with increasing pressure to come! It seemed to me I would be getting some kind of prize or award ( since there are several smaller prizes to be had as well). I took my teenage son, drove into the windy buttcrack of beyond, arrived late because I'd to park about two miles away. Soon it became clear I was a finalist, since the presenter was so kind as to announce the names of the people who hadn't made it by alphabet.
A strange feeling settled inside my stomach. From that moment on I knew I'd won something, and the feeling was mounting. Irrational, I guess, since I had no way of knowing if I got fifth place or first, but still. The feeling was there. I told it to go away. My heartbeat went through the roof.
I got a 'highest scoring newcomer prize' straight off. You could say that should have settled my incipient winner feeling, but it didn't. More prizes, for best sf story, fifth place, third place - and then the first place was announced. Yours truly again.
I won with a big score gap between me and the second place! Yay me!