We were amazed by the high quality of writing in the first round of this year’s marathon. This definitely counts as the best first round ever in the history of the marathon.
Just to recap: once the first writing round closed, all stories were sent to the judges – anonymized – and the public voting round opened.
During the public voting round, feedback was left on the stories, which you can find at the bottom of the first round voting post. May dedicated a post to share her feedback on the 30 entries.
A tip on reading the feedback on your sentence: not all feedback will be good, and you might feel negative emotions when you read it. Don’t. It’s been given to help you, to give you tips to improve your writing. It’s up to you whether you do anything with the feedback, or just ignore it, but never feel discouraged when you read it. Turn it into something positive, and ace your next assignment!
Let’s get on to the official part of the 2022 first round results.
The authors
- Feeding Time – Marsha Adams
- Dangerous Driveway – Christopher Robin
- Hiding place? – Alex Irvine
- Not alone – Peter Plancius
- Soul death – David Mei
- The Afterlife – Lyndsey Ellis-Holloway
- Broken Silence – Steeled Snake Charmer
- The Corridor – The Barefoot Sub
- Hunted – Hardison Parker
- Deep Cut – Bob Merckel
- Daddy’s Rapture – Jessica Wilcox
- Groaking Feast – Julius Evans
- Old Church – Jacques Gerard
- God’s Bathroom – Marcello Spektor
- Dreaming – Kristen Haveman
- Something Approaches – August Wright
- Blood Kiss – Gerad Carrier
- Remnants – Caitlin Mazur
- Until Proven – Michael Williams
- Fear – Valerie Kittell
- Unpleasant Surprise – My Naughty Ideas
- Stung – Kelly Cathy
- Kissing Surprise – Rose Shavelle
- Running Scared – Alexander Gibbons
- Baby Doll – Stephanie Scissom
- Innocence Punished – J. Sharland Day
- Copied Cat – Kate Pasithea
- Death Wish – Eric J Stover
- Raptor – Elk Vilianni
- Jarring Emptiness – Josh Balerite Acol
Public vote
We kept track of all votes during the public voting round, and in total 73 legitimate votes have been received. We are amazed and grateful for your support!
Winner of the public vote (a tie):
- Daddy’s Rapture by Jessica Wilcox
- The Afterlife by Lyndsey Ellis-Holloway
The result of the voting can be found below.
This is the full result of the public vote:
Jury vote
Each jury member sends in their votes individually. The lowest score is removed, and the the average of the three remaining scores is the jury result.
Winner of the jury vote (a 3-way tie):
- Remnants by Caitlin Mazur
- Fear by Valerie Kittell
- Deep Cut by Bob Merckel
The jury’s votes are as follows:
Overall results + rankings after first round 2022
The public votes and that of the jury are added up to get to the end result for the round. For this round, this is also the result of the rankings, but for the next round that will change as writers accumulate results from the first to the fourth rounds.
The overall winner of the first round 2022 (a tie):
- Daddy’s Rapture by Jessica Wilcox
- Deep Cut by Bob Merckel
The overall result for the first round 2022 and the rankings after round one are as follows:
Knocked out
All writers go through to the next round, as is stated in the marathon rules.
At the end of round 2 there will be no knockouts either, as round 3 has 30 writers. This means all the writers of this round will stay with us until round 3, and have enough time to try and secure a spot in round 4, in the race to the final.
Also remember, the accumulating of points only happens until round 4. In round 5 the slates are wiped clean, and all writers that remain in the competition, will be on equal footing.
Next round
Thank you to everyone who has written for this round and thank you to all the voters who have taken the time to read the entries, to vote and for those who have given feedback. A special thanks to the jury members for their hard work!
The writers will be sent the second assignment later today and have until midnight London time on 20 May 2022 to send in their stories. The next public voting round opens on 23 May 2022.
