2023 WINNERS of the Fall Writing Frenzy

Dear Fall Writing Frenzy Friends,

Wow, wow, wow! Thank you all so much for making the 5th year of the Fall Writing Frenzy Contest absolutely wonderful!

It sure was tough for our wonderful guest judges Ameerah Holliday, Ebony Mudd, and I to decide on the winners. I know it sounds cliche, but cliches exist for a reason: you are all winners for participating, supporting each other, the donors, and putting your work out there.

If you didn’t win, or get an honorable mention, please remember that were 187 entries and only 16 spots for winners. This is a subjective business, and the story you wrote here, or other stories you write, could go on to be published whether they won this competition or not. We found merit for each entry – from great concepts to beautiful writing to surprise endings and more.

No matter the results, be proud of yourself for participating and writing what you love.

Without further ado, please celebrate with us because here are the winners of 2023’s Fall Writing Frenzy!

Winners

Author	Title	Donor
*Kathleen MacEachern	The Wrong Potion!	Sarah Hovorak
*Margaret Winikates	Leaf Dance	Ivan Taurisano
*Jess Russo	When Witches Drink Coffee	Brian Gehrlein
*Katie Mahood	Immortal Pumpkin	Dianna Murray
*Neema Jn.Baptiste-Fontenelle	When Fall Rolls Around	Ebony Mudd
*Jan Schwaid	What Carolina Said	Kaitlyn Sanchez
*Theresa Tyree	Naranja	Ameerah Holliday
Adriana Gutierrez Loza	The Spirit of the Hamaca	Alyssa Reynoso-Morris
Thelia Hutchinson	Mama Dearest	Stephanie Winter
Claudine Pullen	The Forest Fortune Tellers	Andrea Wang
Betsy McGovern	Chrysalis and Crumbs	Jessica Stremer
Mia Geiger	Hay Day	Kim-Hoa Ung
Morgan Lau	Jackie O’Lantern	Erika DiPasquale
Julie Brydon	Less Traveled By	Shannon Stocker
Laura Wippell	I am a leaf	Chana Stiefel
Weiss-Roessler	Rules	Amanda Rawson Hill

CONGRATS!

If you are a winner, please be patient while we connect you via email with your donor.

*For winners with an asterisk next to your name, the donor who chose your piece wanted to share a special message about why your piece spoke to them:

For Kathleen’s The Wrong Potion, Sarah said: I love how Kathleen chose a common Halloween theme, a potion gone wrong, and turned it into something fun and unexpected. A child now a grown-up on Halloween… an appealing twist for all ages.

For Margaret’s Leaf Dance, Ivan said: I chose Margaret as my winner because Leaf Dance is a joyful, imaginative, and evocative celebration of Fall that captures the excitement and anticipation for the season.

For Jess Burbank’s Roland Rolled, Brian said: I felt Jess was incredibly witty with her wordplay. The rhythm and poetic elements were strong…and I really love coffee!

For Neema’s When Fall Rolls Around, Ebody said: It’s not easy to capture something simple like leaves falling from a tree and make it fresh! Neema chose such a unique point of view that had me hooked. The use of active verbs, tasteful alliteration, and poetic devices scooped me up from my computer chair and sucked me right into the setting and the action on the page. I enjoyed living inside the mind of these changing leaves during their transition, and I can’t wait to see what else Neema has cooking!

For Jan’s What Carolina Said, Kaitlyn said: Wow! This blew me away. It started as such a sweet high school story about outcasts, something we can all relate to, and then it threw a huge (and unexpected!) curveball in the end – way to go Jan!

For Theresa’s Naranja, Ameerah said: I kept coming back to that submission, something about the emotion behind it and what it invoked stayed with me, so I just had to select this story as a winner!

For Katie’s Immortal Pumpkin, Diana said: I was particularly impressed by the unique rhyme scheme, unexpected end rhymes, well-crafted meter, and vivid descriptions.

Winners, congrats again! Please be patient as we connect you via email with your prize donor. In the meantime, check out the FAQs to make sure you’re ready when the email comes, and if you haven’t heard within a week please check your spam, then use the contact form on this website to let me know.

Honorable Mentions

These are stories that were just shy of being winners. Congrats!

SLEEPY HOLLOW, CREEPY HOLLOW by Katie Schwartz

THE SPOOKIEST MUFFIN by Melanie Paidipalli

THE SCHOLARSHIP By Laura Martinez

CINDERELLA SEEDS by Blythe Williams

MAGIC LEAVES by Deloris Short White

THE INVITATION By Pamela Dougherty

AUTUMN FLIGHT by Todd Beeton

Fall Bird, Fly! by Angela Martinelli

SWAYING by Corey King

NOT YET by Ann Littler

THROUGH THE VEIL By Patchree Jones

TWO WORLDS by Reed Hilton-Eddy

TRAVELLERS by Kerrie Herron

TONIGHT’S SHAPESHIFT by Kris DeCaro

ONE BAD APPLE by Steve Jankousky

A GEOCACHE AMONG GHOSTS by Abbi Lee

THE HUNDRED-YEAR VILLAGE by Kelly Clasen

A GHOSTLY VACATION by Jany Campana

If you want to read any of the winning and honorable mention entries, click here.

Thank you again to everyone for making this such a joyous event! It’s what keeps us doing it year after year. If you haven’t shared on twitter how you’ve thanked our donors, please do so here: https://x.com/KaitlynLeann17/status/1715861517864976457?s=20.

Wishing everyone a lovely fall!

Sincerely,

Kaitlyn Sanchez