It’s that time of year again–just a week left to choose the winner of the Mormon Lit Blitz!
Voting Instructions
As per tradition, the audience chooses our annual Mormon Lit Blitz winner. To vote, look through the pieces, choose your favorite four, and email their titles (rather than author to avoid confusion) in ranked order to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.
Voting is open from Monday, June 11th until the end of the day on Saturday, June 16th. The winner of the $100 Grand Prize will be announced on Monday, June 18th. For the first time, an additional $100 Judge’s Choice Award will be announced that same day.
The twelve finalists are:
“Three Dogs in the Afterlife” by Luisa Perkins “Scrubbing Jesus’ Toilets” by Lehua Parker “A Perfect Voice” by Katherine Cowley “New Rhythm” by Tanya Hanamaikai “Counsel” by Faith Kershisnik “After the Fast” by William Morris “Beneath the Visiting Moon” by Lee Allred “Still Clean” by Sherry Work “Proof That Sister Greeley Is a Witch (Even Though Mormons Don’t Believe in Witches)” by Wm Morris “The Last Swing” by Sheldon Lawrence “Joseph and Emma Grow Old Together” by Eric Jepson “Missionary Weekly Report for 28 March-3 April, Mumbai 1st Branch” by Mattathias Westwood
Again: in order to be counted, votes must contain a ranking of the reader’s four favorite pieces, listed by title or keyword from title, and must be emailed to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com by the end of the day Saturday, June 16th. Voters should have at least skimmed all twelve pieces. We also welcome comments and feedback on the contest in vote emails.
Our Exciting News
We have loved this year’s contest. Every year, it’s a little hard to say goodbye as the contest draws to a close: this year, it’s been doubly so because the author Q&As left us so impressed with the people devoting their creative energy to Mormon Lit–and excited about the possibilities they envisioned.
So we’ve decided not to say the same year-long goodbye we typically do. After careful consideration, we’ve decided to start a new organization called the Mormon Lit Lab. The idea is to bring a core of Mormon Lit enthusiasts together to enroll as regular supporters of a Patreon fundraising page and then use our shared literary war chest for more contests, events, publications, and so on.
If you’re interested in seeing more contests like the Four Centuries of Mormon Stories or the Meeting of the Myths Contest, in attending a Writers’ Retreat like our 2013 event in Heber, Utah, in seeing an anthology of past Mormon Lit finalists and selected semi-finalists, or generally helping to advance the cause of Mormon Literature along the lines of this contest, we hope you’ll give the Patreon page a look and consider contributing.