The Summer Smoothie Awards

Short Story

Judge: @kingempo 

Get to know your judge:

I'm a long-time reader and relatively new writer, only discovering this passion in high school. I love reading apocalyptic novels, my favorite being zombie apocalypse books, because of the escapism from my fairly mundane life. My love for apocalyptic books also extends into my writing, and I am currently working on two apocalyptic books, one being a fan-fiction, the other a zom-com novel. I'm a big fan of slow-paced, character-driven novels, and I'm excited to judge and give feedback on your works.

Entries:

1) @BriannaRoseC | Broken Layers |

2) @BlameSaiki | Fabricated Love |

3) @AbdulKabir1 | Clandestine |

4) @SAGarg21 | Ethan |

5) @LadyArwenEvenStar | Reylo Oneshots

How much your judge will read: the entirety of what there is except the one shot book, they will be reading 2 stories

Rubric:

Cover (5): Does the cover look nice? Is it eye catching? Is it relevant?

Blurb (5): Is the blurb relevant? Does it reveal the subject and hint at the contents of the writing? Does it hook the reader in?

Grammar (10): Is the grammar good? Are there any punctuation errors or spelling typos or other grammatical issues? Are sentence structures varied and interesting to read?

Characterization (25): Are the characters described real and can we empathize with them or are they robotic and inorganic? Does the short story effectively characterize the characters efficiently with few words? Can we understand their motivations, strengths, and flaws and do those flow well together?

Creativity / Originality (15): Is the story being told creative and original, not one that has been done before? Is the manner the story being told in creative? Does the story sidestep cliches and tropes to build strong and complex stories in a short number of words?

World-building (10): Is the world being described well or is it described either too sparsely to imagine or understand or in a cluttered and overly-long manner? Does the writer create a unique world that matches the short-story genre?

Message / Theme (10): Is there a clear message or thematic idea that the short story conveys? Can readers understand and grasp the thematic or symbolic elements? Is there some lesson for the readers to understand or grasp from the short story or is the story aimless and unfocused? Does the author's idea get conveyed in an appropriate matter in the story?

Pacing (10): Is the story paced too slowly? Does it rush over characterization in favor for tropes and cliches or does it drag along and become overly long, violating the short-story rules? Is the pacing appropriate for the subject matter being dealt with?

Style (10): Does the style of the short story complement the story and plot or is it distracting and harmful? Is the language use appropriate for the setting and tone / atmosphere of the story? Does the writer embrace the idea of writing a short story with the choice of characterization and plot?

Total: 100 points

Remember to follow your judges. 5 points will be deducted if you fail to do so