We received a total of eight submissions to the short story contest, which made for a small slate of high quality candidates. There were no bad stories and every one was entertaining in some way. Every entry was read by all three judges independently. We subsequently met to discuss our assessments and to decide on a winner. (Actually, getting all of us together at the same time for a conference call was the most difficult part of the process.)

In this post, I’ll announce the winners. In the coming days and weeks, I will post the stories along with short interviews with the authors.

Third place goes to “The Avatars Remember Nothing” by Gill Williamson. Gill has generously donated his prize of $100 to Sembrando, one of the charities that we are supporting with the book. As well, he will be receiving any one book by Vernor Vinge from Tor Books.

Second place goes to “Autobiography of an Automatic Mind” by Rev Orion. Rev will be receiving a prize of $200 and a Vernor Vinge book from Tor.

First place goes to “Ritchie Boss: Private Investigator Manager” by Micah Joel. He will be receiving $500, a Vinge book from Tor, and the story will be published as the final chapter in Finding Source Code on the Web for Remix and Reuse.

Congratulations to all! Many thanks to all who entered the contest. Thanks also to Halli and Rosalva who served as judges, Tor Books for donating the books, and the various donors on Indiegogo.