Gemini Magazine
_______________
| CHOOSING CONTEST WINNERS |
We now hold three contests each year:
Short Story, Flash Fiction, and Poetry.
We get a lot of entries—over 1,000
stories for the recent Flash Fiction
Contest alone—and we don’t want to
miss anything that might have
possibilities. So here’s how the selection
process works:
On the first go-round we break the
entries down into two categories:
MAYBE and NO. We take a quick look at
each one, and if there’s some spark or
something that even remotely captures
a reader’s interest, we put it into the
MAYBE pile. For emailed entries we do
this by clicking “Flag for Follow-up.” A
cool little red flag appears. So what
happens if we’re not sure? We click
“Mark as Unread” and this entry gets a
second chance too.
Snail mailed entries that show promise
get a on the outside of the envelope.
Those that don’t pique our interest get
an X. Any undecideds go back into the
initial pile. I don’t call this a slush pile.
I call it a gold mine.
At last the final story or poem has been
read. Now comes the truly fun part
because just about any piece we choose
to look at in the second round will be
good. We’re more at ease to enjoy the
writing and fall into the world that it
creates.
Every single piece that’s been flagged
or checked gets another read. If an
emailed entry doesn’t make this cut, we
clear the flag. If a paper entry doesn’t
survive, the check mark gets turned
into an X.
Entries that seem especially interesting
sometimes get an additional check, and
the title of the piece might get written
on the envelope to jog our memory.
At this point the special pieces have
started to rise. The ground starts to
rumble. Tension and electricity fill the
atmosphere and much discussion is
generated. Friends, acquaintances—
even complete strangers—are likely to
hear a synopsis or a quote. In a way,
the world becomes the judge.
By the third or fourth round we are
down to a short list of perhaps a dozen
or so and it is time to pick the winners.
But wait! Just to be sure and fair (and
perhaps because the editor is a bit
obsessive), we randomly go through
the NO entries and take another look.
This is how Beverly Akerman’s
wonderful story “Pie” was discovered
in our first Flash Fiction Contest. It
hadn’t been flagged or even marked as
unread. But we gave it another look
and it leaped to the top when we
realized it wasn’t just about a recipe for
pie; rather, it was about a woman who
swore she would never again bake her
son’s favorite rhubarb pie—or any other
pie—until he returned from war. It had
been decades, but still she waited.
So here at Gemini we’re very happy
that nearly every entry gets a second
look—and a second chance.
—David Bright, Editor
Short Story, Flash Fiction, and Poetry.
We get a lot of entries—over 1,000
stories for the recent Flash Fiction
Contest alone—and we don’t want to
miss anything that might have
possibilities. So here’s how the selection
process works:
On the first go-round we break the
entries down into two categories:
MAYBE and NO. We take a quick look at
each one, and if there’s some spark or
something that even remotely captures
a reader’s interest, we put it into the
MAYBE pile. For emailed entries we do
this by clicking “Flag for Follow-up.” A
cool little red flag appears. So what
happens if we’re not sure? We click
“Mark as Unread” and this entry gets a
second chance too.
Snail mailed entries that show promise
get a on the outside of the envelope.
Those that don’t pique our interest get
an X. Any undecideds go back into the
initial pile. I don’t call this a slush pile.
I call it a gold mine.
At last the final story or poem has been
read. Now comes the truly fun part
because just about any piece we choose
to look at in the second round will be
good. We’re more at ease to enjoy the
writing and fall into the world that it
creates.
Every single piece that’s been flagged
or checked gets another read. If an
emailed entry doesn’t make this cut, we
clear the flag. If a paper entry doesn’t
survive, the check mark gets turned
into an X.
Entries that seem especially interesting
sometimes get an additional check, and
the title of the piece might get written
on the envelope to jog our memory.
At this point the special pieces have
started to rise. The ground starts to
rumble. Tension and electricity fill the
atmosphere and much discussion is
generated. Friends, acquaintances—
even complete strangers—are likely to
hear a synopsis or a quote. In a way,
the world becomes the judge.
By the third or fourth round we are
down to a short list of perhaps a dozen
or so and it is time to pick the winners.
But wait! Just to be sure and fair (and
perhaps because the editor is a bit
obsessive), we randomly go through
the NO entries and take another look.
This is how Beverly Akerman’s
wonderful story “Pie” was discovered
in our first Flash Fiction Contest. It
hadn’t been flagged or even marked as
unread. But we gave it another look
and it leaped to the top when we
realized it wasn’t just about a recipe for
pie; rather, it was about a woman who
swore she would never again bake her
son’s favorite rhubarb pie—or any other
pie—until he returned from war. It had
been decades, but still she waited.
So here at Gemini we’re very happy
that nearly every entry gets a second
look—and a second chance.
—David Bright, Editor
