AppleDash Contest - Winners! · 5:28am Aug 29th, 2013
MARES AND GENTLECOLTS!
THE RESULTS ARE IN!
eeeeeeeee!
Thank you Lulu. We shall now hand the announcement over to our guest announcer!
eeeeeeeee!
No, not you.
Me? Indeed!
Yay! EEEEEE!
Pinkie!
Yes?
Quiet please.
Thank you.
In third place!
Bookplayer's Love Means Having to Say You're Sorry!
In second place! Hey, that was my line!
Sorry, I'm one of the only other ponies pointing in these emotes!
Pidgeons' Hidden in the Heart!
And in first place!
Drumroll please....
THAT'S NOT A DRUM!
Ahem. In first place!
HoofBitingActionOverload's You Want Me!
Congratulations to the winners!
The judges share their thoughts on the three winners, and their personal pick of honorable mentions each!
Peregrine Caged:
PC’s Honorable Mention:
While the winner’s have been decided, I personally would like to mention CommissarAJ’s piece, My Heart Won’t Let Go. Though the second half was a bit of a rough read, the first deserves the mention. The narration style and characterization were incredibly well done and enjoyable to read. I honestly wanted to love the whole piece, but these things happen. Despite that, it still closes itself up fairly well. All in all, a solid piece deserving a little attention of its own..HoofBitingActionOverlord: A very obvious choice as the winner here: for the contest goal itself, for the spot on characterization, and for just being plain enjoyable to read. I think it could have benefited from a little more embellishment in places, a little slowing in pace, but it didn’t leave me wanting as I finished the last chapter. I never found myself wasting my time--and that’s the goal of all of us authors. But at the same time, we can always improve. I hope the author takes this win and moves forward with confidence, but also continues to push themselves into bigger and better things.
Pidgeons: I’ll be honest--I didn’t enjoy this one as much as my fellow judges, but I also feel it deserves second place for the potential within it. Not only was it a long, ambitious entry, there were interweavings of a complex and thought out continuation, which I hope the author will pursue. A fic like this is a perfect reminder that, while not always pretty, there can be plenty of substance just under the surface, waiting to be polished and perfected. Or at least as much as any author is willing to try to obtain.
bookplayer: I was already a fan of book, both for her stories (well, most of them) and herself as a person. She didn’t disappoint here either, creating a cute little tale that took on the challenge in a very unique fashion, acing it. I suppose, though, at the same time I didn’t think it really challenged book herself, as an author. The piece itself is solid--but not top notch. It took the challenge from an interesting angle, but still felt a little safe. Nothing wrong with that, and she got a wonderful piece out of it, and I got a great read. And at the end of the day, I think everybody was happy. So, well deserving a third place victory.
KrazyTheFox:
Krazy’s Honorable Mention:
CommissarAJ’s entry, My Heart Won’t Let Go, was a lot of fun in the first chapter with plenty of derailments that kept me on my toes—not for when Applejack would finally get through to Rainbow, but rather, in what could possibly go wrong next. Applejack’s feelings were portrayed well throughout the fic and the narration was fantastic. The second chapter falls apart a bit for me, but not enough to avoid a well deserved honorable mention.HoofBitingActionOverlord: The premise for this fic was great and the execution was right up there to match it all the way though.
Pidgeons: Wow. Just wow. This was a very good read that really caught my attention, as it’s (as far as I know) Pidgeons’ first fanfic. It had a bunch of interweaving storylines and some great headcanon to boot. I’d love to see an extension to that at some point in the future.
bookplayer: Characterization, characterization, and characterization. As always, bookplayer nailed it in this fic. A thick-headed Dash, who doesn’t always do the right (or smart) thing, but ultimately figures out a valuable lesson and does her best to make up for it is always a good read, and she even creates an episodic feel for the fic that reminisces of a first season episode.
Tchernobog:
Tchernobog's honorable mention: Jondor's entry. This one was fun, Very much so. I think it lacked a bit of characterization, and perhaps depth (could have been longer) to match the top three, but it stood out enough to warrant being on my honorable mention list - though this spot was hard fought, too.
HoofBitingActionOverlord: This was just... wow. The narrative, the characterization, and the execution, everything went perfectly here. The choice was hard between first and second, but this stood out.
Pidgeon: You sir, get an editor/proofreader, tweak at this fic and POST IT ON HERE IMMEDIATELY. The scale and scope of this just was so much grander than almost any other entry (save one, and that one wasn't finished). This story was riveting, and I wish to see more of it, and the hints at a sequel. I'm keeping my eye on you!
Bookplayer: I don't know what else to say that the other two haven't already. Characterization, episode like feel, everything was just great here. And sneaky, using Dash's POV for an Applejack-centric theme. SNEAKY I TELL YOU.
As stated in the contest thread, the prizes!
But first, a surprise from KrazyTheFox! He has decided that he'll offer his prize for all three winners, not just one! To reiterate:
"A full-color, show-accurate, complete with background vector of a scene from the winner's fic, either decided by the winner or left up to me to surprise them."
HoofBitingActionOverlord, you get the first pick of the prize pool: The Diorama commission, paid for by me, or art by Jackie, plus Krazy's vector.
Pidgeons: The remaining prize, plus Krazy's vector.
Bookplayer: Krazy's vector.
Again, congratulations to the winners! As for the others, even if you weren't mentioned, we still read your fics! All the entries were fun reads and we're grateful for your participation! Do not be discouraged, and please participate again if/when we organize another contest.
Here is the list of all the participating fics for your perusal.
Author: XGrandMoffX
Entry: Of Friends and Marefriends
Author: Aray
Entry: Ah'll Kidnap Ya Heart
Author: barbeque
Entry: My Little Lanborghini: Drifting is Magic
Author: Rated Ponystar
Entry: Date at Dodge Junction
Author: bookplayer
Entry: Love Means Having to Say You're Sorry
Author: Kamikaze Pegasi
Entry: A Silver Lining
Author: Mr Snowpony
Entry: Comfortable
Author: HoofBitingActionOverload
Entry: You Want Me
Author: CommissarAJ
Entry: My Heart Won't Let Go
Author: Idsertian
Entry: Hillside Rememberance
Author: Gutovi-kun
Entry: The Mare of Your Dreams
Author: Pidgeons
Entry: Hidden in the Heart
Author: bahatumay
Entry: All's Fair in Love and Piracy
Author: Ten Speed
Entry: In Dreams Awake
I knew being on the shorter end was going to hinder me. Ah well, I got Tcherno's mention, so that's as good as gold for me.
Congratulations!
Now to go and start reading those fics!
Gratz to all of you!!!
I'm very surprised that I placed. I'm glad to have made the list, though. Thanks Tcherno, and thanks to all the judges. That was a tough contest.
Oh well... it's not like I expected something else so, I'm okay with the results! "Expect nothing, and you will never be dissapointed" I guess. And unlike last time, I'm really sad I couldn't read ALL the fics, so I didn't know if the judges were fair or not (according to my opinions, that is) like the first contest, were I was like "Oh yeah, You totally deserved to win. I'm not surprised you made it, it was awesome." But I'll be sure to start on it soon! Need to read those stories, must be real good to be over Jondor's and Bookplayer's!
Anyways. Congrats to all of you, even those who didn't win!
Have Applejack clapping:
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/271/8/d/applejack_clopplauding_by_mihaaaa-d3hohmg.gif
I knew I wasn't going to win the moment those three fics came out. They were too good and deserve this victory, all three of them. Congratulations guys! Can't wait for the next one!
I... just... wow...
Thank you so much! I had to reread that about five times to make sure it actually said what I thought it said. Talk about totally unexpected...
1315529
It was really, really good! Don't forget to choose your prize, as you've got first pick. 
1315611
Oh, jeez, I totally forgot that there were prizes...
Do you want me to PM it to you?
1316087
Sure! That works :)
Ah well, didn't think I'd win. Congrats to the winners, I shall now have to find time to read your stories.
Well done to all the winners!
i have to say I've read a fair few of the entries but haven't managed to get through them all. I have read the honourable mentions and 1st & 3rd, but still haven't read Pidgeons' story. Needs to be posted in here, sharpish
its a real shame that even though i started reading some of these while on holiday, i still didn't get enough time to get through them all. Need ta apply mahself better, i reckon