2024 First Chapter Contest Finalists

Writing Away Refuge is so happy to announce the Top 10 Finalists and Winners of our 2024 First Chapter Consult and Contest. We appreciate all of our entrants and the talent that was displayed. There were a lot of wonderful chapters, and we look forward to our 2025 contest. Congratulations to our 2024 finalists and winners.

 

2024 First Chapter Contest Winner-- Merrick Scaife--The Insiders

 

2nd Place Winner--Doc Varga--Haunting of Philadelphia

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Remaining Top 10 Finalists--

Allyson Hocker--From Faraway Blue

Mary Richards--Searching for Distraction

Linda English--Not All Dogs Go to Heaven

Kendra Lindholm--The Mermaid Resurgence

Rich Sobo--COF (Chapter One)

Katia Sinchenko--The Ukranian

Dawn Miller--The Good Teacher

Nancy Alvarado--We Feed People What We are Starving For

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Honorable Mentions--

Ralph Dellapiana--Code of Silence

Kathleen Zoll--The Vagrant King

Etya Krichmar--The Ugly Duckling/Mama's Journey

Elizabeth McNally--Tyger

 

 

PAST WINNERS & FINALISTS

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2023 First Chapter Contest Winner-- Erica Sage--Dead Things

 

2nd Place Winner--Raquel Levitt--The Seer

 

Remaining Top 10 Finalists--

Matt Varga--Currency of Souls

Bridget Verhaaren--Giving

Nina Pak--Mora's Arrival

Harriet Garfinkle--Fast Forward/Slow Rewind

Hollie Swapp--But First, a Phoenix Burns

Gini Holland--The Year She Wasn't There

Judith Haran--Friend of the Family

Amy Purcell--The Great Dying

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Honorable Mentions--

Nancy Alvarado--Apples

Sheliah Schodlbauer--We Rise

T.J. Knight--The First Aquamancer

Margaret Kasimatis--Beyond the Yard

Elizabeth McNally--The Power of Touch

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2022 First Chapter Contest Winner-- Erin Evans (Penname Nikki Black)--The Northern Flame

 

Remaining Top 10 Finalists--

Jodie Smith--Jubilee Bells

Sheliah Schodlbauer--Maggie's Run

Deborah Westervelt--Above and Below the Canyon

Asher Sund--Instruction Manual

Danielle Reiff--Leading with Love: A Peacebuilder's Diary

Maxie Jane Frazier--B*L*U*F*(F)

Matt Varga--Flicker

Lilli Gross--A Wall in the Hall

Peggy McDonald--Life in the A-Zone

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Honorable Mentions--

Sabrina Robinson--Northbound

Lindsey Parkinson--Good Girl

Elizabeth Lynd--Bury Me in Pigeon

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Words from a contest entrant:

"I'm so thankful for the feedback your judges gave me over the summer on my prologue. It led me to rewrite it and look at the scene from some deeper places in my heart."--Cherisa Jerez

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