Sorry for the delay! I'll launch straight into it!

PROMPTS: 

PROMPT TWO:

"You don't drown by falling in water; you drown by staying there."

- Edwin Louis Cole

PROMPT THREE:

Everything you touch turns green.

But first! Before results, I must always say thank you to these LEGENDS: 

NDeMeer -- And that's a wrap! You've judged every single month we've had these awards, more if we consider 2019 and the old format of the awards! You're literally incredible and I can't thank you enough for all the hours and thought you've put into this. Love you to absolute smithereens. 

someoneunicorn -- It was so wonderful having you back! You're, simply put, one amazing judge. I love the professionalism in your feedback, your promptness, and you reaching out was so kind and wonderful. I hope you've enjoyed judging for these awards, because I've certainly loved having you on the panel! 

Tsukirainblossom -- I believe this was the first time you've judged for us, and you did a fantastic job! I loved your feedback, the efficiency, and you clearly have a good eye for literature. Thank you so much for dedicating some time to this community and helping me out. I appreciate it so much! 

And now... results...

Here are the shortlisted books!

TITLE: Who's The Monster? 

AUTHOR: Ink_Scars206

FEEDBACK: 

This story was very unique, and it had a great hook. It left me intrigued as to what the meaning was, but it also left me a bit frustrated, as it was a bit too vague for my taste. There were just two spelling and grammar errors, but as the story was quite short, I weighed those errors a bit heavily. One point that I think could have really helped clear the vagueness a bit so the reader could enjoy more, would be to maybe elaborate on what the narrator meant by, 'though I pushed her' Pushed her for what, or to what was one question that i had that made me more frustrated than intriguing. The idea itself shows promise, and all in all, sounds very interesting.

TITLE: Provare

AUTHOR: Nirali_miraculous

FEEDBACK: 

The concept was very interesting, but I felt that it was a bit slow. It was definitely inspirational, and embodied the prompt. But I felt like there wasn't much to jazz the piece up. Nothing really caught my attention that much. For the future, I recommend adding a bit more mystery, suspense, or just a bit more events, instead of just dialogue to convey a message. Technical aspects were nearly perfect, just need to make sure to give each of the characters the dialogue in separate paragraphs.

TITLE: A Spark Within the Lake

AUTHOR: Sonder_Writes

FEEDBACK: 

The concept of the story is very creative. There were a few grammar and punctuation mistakes, so I suggest you look through them. The mysterious beginning of the story is definitely a smart move as it captivates readers to indulge into your story and read more. The characterization could be better, I hoped it would be more richer. Another thing to note is that this short story in my opinion, would be better as a novel, I suggest writing this into a novel after this competition. Overall, your story is very creative and owns tons of potential.

TITLE: Learning to Swim

AUTHOR: -aiireo

FEEDBACK: 

Overall, this story is beautiful and sophisticated. The writing quality and vocabulary of the story blew me away, it fits so well. I also love the ending, the last sentence brings so much hope and power to the readers. Despite the beginning gives me a good hint on what the story will be about, it lacks creativity and it's rather basic. I also want to mention the character has an interesting and deep backstory. The spelling, grammar and punctuation is absolutely perfect, not even one mistake. I would love to see some improvements in pacing the story, I think it sounds a bit rushed. Conclusion is, I like this story, it's not the best but the writing is out of the world, and I would love to see more of this author.

TITLE: The Celestial Realm 

AUTHOR: Nerdy_Sasha

FEEDBACK: 

Woah, what an ending! Beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time, she died chasing after her passion. This story had a lot of grammar and spelling errors, like an abundance of commas and missing words, which really takes away from the story. There is also a lot of repetition of words, for example: "It's been three months and she was travelling alone. She was the only one on board for the past three months." I also feel like the buildup to the climax could be better; there wasn't really any rising action in the plot, it was just one moment she was in the space ship and the next she was being pulled into the black hole. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the background and the building of her personality. You showed her passion so well. Nice work! 

IN THIRD PLACE: 

TITLE: The End of the Galaxy

AUTHOR: intoTheShadowTrees

FEEDBACK: 

Thisis a great story! The characters are relatable, the world building is fantasticand the plot builds to a thrilling climax. I'm not a big fan of timeskips,especially to many in such a short story. You have to watch for those, becausethey can be really jarring as they take the reader out of the story every time.However, it did work well for the plot. I really love how it all came togetherat the end of the story; how the mag-boot training you showed us turned out toactually be crucial to the plot. The slow-burning romance also felt veryrealistic and cute. Great work with this story!

OVERALL SCORE: 88/100

IN SECOND PLACE: 

TITLE: Stages of Dalia

AUTHOR: lydiathelover

FEEDBACK: 

I absolutely loved this story! The plot was amazing, and well thought out, with twists and turns in just the right spots. I loved how the story opened up, with a hint of vagueness that made the reader want to keep reading in order to discover more information. I also loved the ending, which left me stunned, and gave emotion. This piece is full of feelings, and I feel the pace and vocabulary fit the story perfectly. Just a few technical mistakes, like punctuation, and grammar mistakes, but there were only very few. Other than that, amazing job!

OVERALL SCORE: 96/100

AND IN FIRST PLACE: 

TITLE: Some Infinities

AUTHOR: avadel

FEEDBACK: 

I'vejudged your entries several times now and they are always brilliant. I'mstarting to lose words for how to praise your wonderful stories. Anya is such awell-developed character, which is especially impressive considering the lowword count of the story. Spelling, grammar and sentence structure are (near)perfect and the story is so unique, creative and original. The only, very minorbit of feedback I can think to give is that the timeskip of ten years felt liketoo much for such a short story. I'm wondering if the first bit, where Anya isa kid, can't be removed. It didn't seem like there was anything crucial in thereand I found the timeskip just a tad jarring, simply because it was still tooearly in the story for it. Congratulations on another fantastic story!

OVERALL SCORE: 97/100

And that's officially a wrap for The Monthly Gemstone Awards: Short Story!

I hope everyone has had plenty of fun -- I'm considering doing one more for January? Where the results will be published midway next month? Thoughts? I need opinions! 

But if not, thank you so much to everyone involved in these awards -- it has been so much fun seeing everyone stare at those prompts, and slowly start to develop new ideas that turn into beautiful stories that pull at the heart. I think moments like these are really what show me the power of words. 

And I sincerely hope, with all my heart, that each of you have found some power in your own words.