AwkWard Contest Winners

So a while back, a few us AwkWard fans were tweeting about how much we adored him. Really, no one has anything bad to say about an adorkably awkward Edward. We decided that 1.) There wasn't nearly enough of him, and 2.) People wanted it. So what to do when you think fandom could use more of something awesome?

Make a contest.

Manyafandom

and myself, along with 5 wonderful judges and AwkWard fans,

Adair7

EzRocksAngel

loveinthelies

in.a.blue.bathrobe

, and

americnxidiot

all convened to set up an anonymously judged contest, whose exact parameters can be found here.

After receiving 27 entries, we held our first round of public voting. The following top 12 entries advanced to round 2.

Inhale Her by Yogagal
It's Just a Flesh Wound by Zigster
Zip It by EJ Santry
Cinnamon Bread and Awkward Head by VampiresHaveLaws
Beta Readers and Bulletin Boards by cereuleanblue
A Problem Below by venis-envy & BurdenedThunder
Fixation by Feisty Y. Beden
Deadliest Catch by araeo
Accidental Threesome by punkfarie
Long Time Coming by SunKing
One Cup of Chunky Peanut Butter by jennlynnfs
Crotches on Fire by SnowWhiteHeart

Public Voting Winners!

One Cup of Chunky Peanut Butter

jennlynnfs

Entry for the AwkWard Contest. With best friend Angela moving forward in her relationship with Ben, Bella feels she's being left behind. She tries to remedy the situation by going for Edward Cullen, but being inexperienced makes for awkward situations.
Rated: M - English - Romance/General - Chapters: 1 - Words: 22,267 - Reviews: 183 - Updated: 3-18-10 - Published: 3-18-10 - - Bella/Edward

Cinnamon Bread and Awkward Head

VampiresHaveLaws

Entry for the Awkward Contest - Sugar and Spice and all things awkward. Will Edward's embarrassing behaviour blow his chances with the girl of his choice? Or will cinnamon gum lover Isabella Swan know just what to do with him? O/S AH
Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 9,523 - Reviews: 40 - Updated: 3-17-10 - Published: 3-17-10 - - Edward/Bella

Accidental Threesome

punkfarie

Sex is just...awkward. One Shot written for the AwkWard Contest. Rated M.
Rated: M - English - General/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 4,837 - Reviews: 51 - Updated: 3-15-10 - Published: 3-15-10 - - Bella/Edward

Honorable Mentions

Now, I'd said on Twitter how close this race was. I even posted a screenshot of the results, which showed that 3rd place was only 1 vote ahead of 4th, and 4th was only 1 vote ahead of 5th.

PROOF THAT EVERY READER COUNTS!

Crotches on Fire

SnowWhiteHeart

was both terribly close to claiming 3rd, and also just an all around hilarious story. The author did a wonderful job capturing the theme, and we all felt as though it was equally deserving of an award as the top three. If I didn't get all anal about defying the normal confines of the winner system, I would have made a fourth place. Please give it a read! And her other story, Falling for the First Time is the most hilarious thing I've read this year. Geekward is God!

Judges' Scoring Round:

All entries were judged anonymously, meaning that the judges were forbidden from looking at the C2, clicking on entries, or beta'ing/reading any of the stories entered. All entries were emailed to the judges without titles, A/Ns, or any other identifying information.

They scored based on the following parameters:

Story Details
; Scoring: 0 - 5
- Background - Enough information given for background of story?
- Pace - Did the timeline flow in a logical and satisfying order?
- Character Depth & Development - Characters are well-developed and have sufficient depth (for a one-shot)?
- Believability - Believable plot? Holes in story? Believable characters?
Writing
; Scoring: 0 - 5
- Overall Impression of Writing - Flow, quality of writing/grammar, quality of storytelling
- Technical Grammar - Typos, spelling, punctuation
- Word Choice - Diction / misused words, awkward language (the bad kind), wordiness
- Sentence Structure - Inappropriate fragments, run-ons, repetitive structure, etc.
- Story Structure - Clear organization of main points. Was it confusing?
- Quality of Dialogue - Believable, realistic, flows, used to tell story (show vs. tell), etc.
Other Criteria
; Scoring: 0 - 5
- Creativity / Originality of Plot - Seen the story line a hundred times? Completely different? Good twist on familiar story? Etc.
- Style / Voice / Tone - Appropriate for subject matter? Add or detract from story?
- Emotional Response - Did it grab you? Make you cry? Give you chills? Make you laugh?
- Resolution - Resolution satisfying? Make sense? Confusing? Too abrupt?
- Well-suited to be One/three-shot - How well-suited was the subject matter for a one-shot? For the three chapters allotted? Enough questions answered? Self-enclosed story?
AwkWard Rating
; Scoring: 0 - 5
- Intensity of Awkward Tone - How Awkward is it?
- Specific Moments - Were specific scenes or moments appropriately genuine in their awkwardness?
- Theme Interpretation - Did the author define "Awkwardness" through their entry correctly?

The AwkWard criteria was then averaged, multiplied by two, and then added to their score. We want to stress how important the theme was for the contest.

IMPORTANT!

- If you are an entrant who'd like access to their averaged scores for the above criteria, please email me at

angstgoddess003@tlydf.com

and I will email your score sheet.

Judges' Scoring Round Winners!

Strapped

queenofpancakes7

FOR THE AWKWARD CONTEST - by bananapancakes7 & queenofgrey - Some anniversary memories are meant to be scrapbooked. Some are meant to be scrapped, completely. Rated M for cringe-worthy situations, inappropriate language, & sex that is all kinds of weird.
Rated: M - English - Humor/General - Chapters: 2 - Words: 6,371 - Reviews: 33 - Updated: 3-17-10 - Published: 3-17-10 - - Edward/Bella

The Alibi

belladonna1472

Entry for the AwkWard Contest. Chief Swan suspects that Edward is responsible for an attack on Jacob Black. He thinks the incident is about Bella. Does Edward have an alibi? Is he guilty? Is Bella involved? OOC Edward!
Rated: M - English - Drama/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 4,950 - Reviews: 14 - Updated: 3-15-10 - Published: 3-15-10 - - Edward

Inhale Her

Yogagal

Entry for the Awkward Contest. A summer job, a bachelor party... a chance meeting turns into an Awkward moment. But fate finds a way to smooth out the Awkwardness into something more interesting. Rated M for adult entertainment.
Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 5,506 - Reviews: 58 - Updated: 3-7-10 - Published: 3-7-10 - - Bella/Edward

Honorable Mentions:

Another very close contender in the scoring round was

Feisty Y. Beden

Fixation

. This story was one of my favorites. Not only did Feisty capture the spirit of the awkward theme, but she also managed to create a robust, vivid atmosphere in the short space allotted. Fixation was a whole menagerie of things: funny, uncomfortable, funny again, awkward, weird, more funny, heart-wrenching, funnier, and all around awesome. I could re-read this story once a week and probably find something new about it I adored. Another winner from Feisty. She is simply an amazing writer and storyteller.

Judges' Picks:

I asked the judges to send me along their favorite entries, along with a blurb explaining why.

Deadliest Catch

araeo

Edward has a big project to do. Bella's been sentenced to community service. Add in some promiscuous parasites, dusty books, and maple doughnuts, and you get my entry for the AwkWard Contest. Rated M for language and adult content. AH/AU.
Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 9,776 - Reviews: 55 - Published: 3-18-10 - - Bella/Edward

Judge #1 - This story completely grabbed me from the very first line. My eyes widened, my forehead crinkled, and then I shook out my head and kept reading. "My name is Edward Cullen, and I have crabs" is probably the most interesting first line I've ever read, and my attention didn't falter until the story was over. This science-dorky Edward kept me laughing and smiling the entire time. The author did an excellent job developing the relationship between Bella and Edward in a believable and incredibly sweet and awkward way. This was exactly like two college students cautiously flirting with each other. In fact the flirting and UST was done so naturally that I didn't realize exactly how well it had been done until they finally kiss. This is pretty much my favorite kind of story to read: awkward and bumbling, sweet, really funny, and overall just fun. I loved it.

It's Just a Flesh Wound

Zigster

The need for a band-aid can cause a crush. Edward cuts his finger, and a strange, overenthusiastic boy offers to help. Entry for the AwkWard contest. AH/AU Hookahs and spit-takes abound.
Rated: M - English - Humor/General - Chapters: 1 - Words: 7,637 - Reviews: 39 - Published: 3-16-10 - - Edward/Jasper

Judge #2 - I love the closed world of this sensual fic; the absence of superfluous characters brings out the fantastic details of the surreal setting and the unusual personalities. A simple accident escalates into the strange shock of first contact and returned chemistry, but most of the awkwardness comes from Edward’s own discomfort with himself-

“He feels warm, and his voice is relaxed and inviting. This person is clearly not an introvert, like me, and for that, I'm intimidated.”

-and the situation only gets more delightful as his world is thrown off-kilter by the encounter.