Announcing the Winners of our "Money Talks" Story Competition

Quote by Buz
I finally cracked the Top 3 and I am elated.

Quote by SereneProdigy


Dammit, this dude is so jolly, positive and amicable when he's won a competition... I think we should award him a prize each week or something.

Quote by Magical_felix

Quote by Buz
Congratulations to Liz for her 1st place, Miami Heat. I thought all along, and told her so, that her story looked like the winner. Liz is an awesome writer, so amazingly talented and smart. I love her story. It's superior entertainment. I am always in awe of Liz!

And Magical_Felix for 2nd place, Belgard. Jack did some super, high quality, deep writing for sure and he knows I told him he'd finish in the Top 3. Just a superb story for sure. He always writes great stories and especially comes through with something super special in a comp.

I am, well, I am absolutely blown away! Y'all that know me, know I'm a bit hyper and excitable, so you can just imagine. I finally cracked the Top 3 and I am elated. Especially knowing how tough this competition was. I mean there are so many really great, high quality stories. I thought top 3 was beyond my reach. Thanks judges! I am really honored to get to be listed Top 3 with Liz and Magical_Felix.

Congratulations to the entire Top 10 because those are all super outstanding stories. There were several serious contenders there that had to put a lot of pressure on the judges deciding between all of these superb stories. In fact seriously great stories in this comp goes much deeper than the Top 10. I read a huge portion of the comp stories and they were great.

I'd like to thank VanGogh for doing an awesome job of proofing for me. She's done that for me several times and does an amazing job, catching the dyslexic things that slide through my own proofing, and she makes great suggestions. And a special thanks to Dancing_Doll, Sprite, Milik_the_Red and DanielleX for years of encouragement.

Quote by SereneProdigy
Congratulations to the winners! Those were three fantastic stories indeed.




Dammit, this dude is so jolly, positive and amicable when he's won a competition... I think we should award him a prize each week or something.

Quote by sprite
Actually, Buz is like that 24/7. he's probably the nicest guy on Lush, and I say that having known and worked with him for several years now - he's always been there with 100% support and encouragement for all the writers. i'm really very proud of him, and happy for him, that he placed.

Quote by SereneProdigy


Hmm... I actually quoted Magical_felix in my post.

Quote by stephanie
Can't argue with all of the above.

However, CASTING A CRITICAL EYE over The Top Ten, (and on three other entries I fancied...) I notice there's VERY LITTLE in terms of WRITING QUALITY separating the field, (obvious stylistic approaches not with standing, (Mag Felix's entry being a good example of this..)

What I'M GUESSING is that it more came down to how the Writer approached the topic. For example, Nymph Writer included a FETISHISTIC element in her story while keeping to brief, thus making it stand out in terms of plot.

Milik included a much darker, noir aspect to his offering, again uniquely.

Average Black Girl made her tale much more personal in the way we understood the motives of the protagonist.

Saucymh took the opportunity to showcase a skill at writing dialogue which was natural and refreshing.

I could go on, but my point is that each of these ten writers, who I don't think will mind me observing are stylistically unique but more-or-less equal in terms of writing skills, brought something JUST A LITTLE different to the brief.

NOBODY should be wary of entering comp since in terms of QUALITY, the initial APPROVAL and POSTING by the regular mod team means that your offering is worthy of consideration by the judging panel. And ALL entries are read, re-read and discussed as I understand i. (And I understand it!)

It is that little extra SPARK of originality, (Buz's humor, Bethany's HIGHLY CONTEMPORARY setting, Principessa's exploration of a more hard-core approach, Jaymal's faux-fantasy exploration etc...) and the examples already mentioned above, that make these offerings that little bit (?) extra-special.

Congrats to the winners and ALL who took part.

xx Stephen

Quote by Liz


Lastly, I would like to clear a little something up. There are unconfirmed rumours circulating that having found out I'd won this competition, that I proceeded to jump up onto the couch and shake my booty like it ain't no thang. I would like to take this opportunity to deny my involvement in any ass-shakin' pink-thong twerkathon.

*clears throat*

Quote by Liz
ass-shakin' pink-thong twerkathon

Quote by SITTING
It happened! It's viral!

Quote by BDSMBarbieDoll
Congrats to the winners. There were so many great entries. This was one of the best competitions ever!