<p>What if you didn’t get to pick up?</p>
<p>…or stupidly hung up? |:</p>
<p>Yeah there should be about six silver winners.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the winners out there!
You all must be so excited about it! </p>
<p>Alas, my phone has been silent…atleast I think. I was outside yesterday doing homework. There were some calls, but the numbers are off. Anyway…again, congrats! Anyone hear about Merit or Gold? I wonder who recieved the top award…</p>
<p>Okay, THIS BLOWS. I just got my email (I got a silver) and apparently there were five silver winners…and no gold!! None of us were good enough!! I kind of think this is B.S. but I guess in the end it’s their decision. But really? So don’t hold your breath; there wasn’t a winner. It didn’t say anything about merit winners, I don’t think.</p>
<p>Ugh. I felt okay, because I was like, “Oh, they thought it was good, but someone was better than me.” But now… man</p>
<p>What??!
that’s insane?
What, was everyone so terrible? Or we’re we so good? </p>
<p>I don’t even know what to think…scholastic…argh to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s just low. Any news on the merit front?</p>
<p>LAME! How disappointing.</p>
<p>Does anyone know about any other contests similar to this? :[</p>
<p>Alivia, did the e-mail say that there would be no gold winner, or that it just hadn’t been announced yet?</p>
<p>What? D:!!</p>
<p>Well, how do I feel, given this news? On a personal level, either they REALLY hate sci-fi, or my writing is totally crap. D: And I think I speak for all of us when I say it was pretty crappy of them to not even give a gold award, and less silver awards than usual, at that! They had 700 entries! At least one had to stand out! And anyways, do you think they would get away without giving a gold award in a certain genre in the other parts of the writing competition? :\ Something’s fishy. I mean, the responses were already late, and now no gold award? I am sooo suspicious. And sad. The contest seemed to go somewhat smoothly over the past few years.</p>
<p>That’s pretty much what I’m telling myself as a means of reassurance––that they are sci-fi prejudiced. I put my heart and soul into my submission, as I’m sure the rest of you did.</p>
<p>I just wish the wait hadn’t been so interminable.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t think what I submitted is that flattering to the overall work anyways. It is a really slow work… nothing really happens besides character development for the first 50 pages. XD I wasn’t expecting too much. But sci-fi gets snubbed a lot in general.</p>
<p>I wish they would have… I dunno, given out the prizes they said they would!! That’s what bothers me the most… the long wait just makes me think something weird’s going on.</p>
<p>Feels like a total waste of time now…</p>
<p>I’m starting agree with everyone on the fishy business…I know one year they did not give out a gold, I think it was the year before last or something, but they had merit winners and the normal amount of silver winner. They are either way too picky on what they are looking for, or something else is going on. Why would they wait so long only to have five silvers? Two months of waiting, and for what? A nonexistant winner.</p>
<p>Interminable, yes.
Alivia, you got silver twice…you’d think they could spare a gold for someone like you
The long wait, now disappointment that they can’t spare one gold just doesn’t seem fair. They don’t have their act together that’s for sure.
Who are these judges? Anyone under 18?</p>
<p>The exact quote: “Only five students earned National Silver Medals. There were no Gold Medals awarded this year.” No reason whatsoever. I’m thinking about emailing them to ask why… maybe they’re lacking the funds to pay someone to intern when they’re not even sure they’ll get a publishable novel. Also, I know that last year’s winner is interning this summer instead of last…maybe they didn’t want two people at once? As for Merit winners, there’s a possibility that they haven’t decided on any yet. After all, there’s usually a ton.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry if you didn’t win anything. It all depends on how they feel about your novel and who is reading it. Remember judging is objective, and someone who didn’t get to read your novel might love it. Same goes for us winners–we could’ve simply gotten lucky with our readers. At the same time, two silvers in a row and on a year when they didn’t choose a winner…I’m disappointed. And slightly depressed. But I don’t think this is going to stop ANY of us from pursuing what we love to do.</p>
<p>Soap box done 
Congrats to everyone who had the dedication to enter at all, and here’s to us!</p>
<p>it explicitly says on the entry form that a gold medal will be awarded to someone. Despite any extenuating circumstances, it just seems like a cop out to not have one, and to just drop it on us like this. :\ They could have at least had a little foresight and announced it before all the entries were in if it was a financial issue.</p>
<p>Nthing the “fishy business” sentiment. I mean… long wait, deadlines they went back on, no gold award, no list… I don’t know, my instincts are yelling “SKETCHYYYY” at me. But it IS Scholastic I guess…</p>
<p>Meh. Maybe they’re just really unorganized. Like how they forgot to tell me I won a short story award this year! <em>shakes fist</em> I missed my own awards ceremony!</p>
<p>…Okay, I’ll shut up now. Seriously though, gratz on the silver.</p>
<p>No first place winner is like citing the alphabet as “B, C, D, E…(try singing the alphabet song starting with B)” or counting beginning with 2, 3, 4 or like a calendar without New Year’s Day. In gymnastics, we say the only problem with first place, is there is only one of them. But here, there isn’t even one of those! No, it doesn’t make sense. You don’t call a meet, and in the end, say no one was good enough to capture gold, can you imagine an Olympics which decided at the last minute, not to award first place gold to a team or individual based on their subjective opinion that no one was deserving? You hold a contest…and see who shows up, you pick the best of the best, or the best of the worst, but there is always someone who is slightly better than everyone else, who noses out the competition. Scholastic…I am very disappointed, because you seem so reputable… with all the profits form Harry Potter, you couldn’t finance one additional little summer intern??? Hope you’re not putting profit before people…</p>
<p>wow. I read my letter and didn’t notice the whole no gold thing. I mean, I’m really happy to have won silver, but I had the same thought. Well, someone was better than me. But… no. That kind of sucks. I wonder why. Also, do silver medalists get any feedback on their novel? It says if you don’t get recognized, no feedback.</p>
<p>That’s the same thing I was thinking! It’s like, how do you just skip on to second place if there’s no first place?? I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with who wrote the best novel, though… It must have to do with money or something. </p>
<p>Has anyone heard about Certificate? I’m still holding my breath… considering no one seems to have been contacted about it yet.</p>