Also, Merry Latemas guys. Well, that is how we say it around here. Anyway, Happy Late Christmas basically, and our community is important to us. That's why we try to make these contests work as best as possible.
We judge your stories for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is respect for your art. We are also our own judges, because we may enter our own books for these awards, and most of the time we don't win either. The issue isn't about winning, it's about failure.
Failure, you say, may be what we run from, but it sheds our true flaws so that we can improve. The same with fear as well. Without going through these things, we can never make positive growth.
I know everyone in our community is not a Christian, and that doesn't matter, but we can learn from each other. That way we can become better, and that is where we need to go.
So, I implore you to take a chance with us. Who knows maybe you'll learn something that can make you a best selling author one day, or help you in your other goals in life. At the end of the day, isn't that what we all are after?