Earlier this month, when we announced that Slate was hosting a fiction contest to select one of the 100 stories we’d publish as part of the Significant Objects project, we figured that it would only take a couple of days to read through the entries and pick a winner. Because the contest’s deadline was last Friday (Oct. 16), we announced that Slate (and we) would publish the winning story today.
No such luck, I’m afraid. Why? Because Slate received a staggering 600+ entries! That’s right: over 600 Slate readers wrote a story about an insignificant object object that I’d purchased at a thrift store, this summer, for 75 cents. This overwhelming response validates our project’s hypothesis, and demonstrates just how imaginative and talented Slate’s readers, not to mention those Significant Objects fans who entered the contest, truly are.
Every day of this past week, Rob and I worked with Slate’s editors to read all 600+ stories. We’ve succeeded in winnowing the vast pool of entries down to 12 surprising, inventive, and stylish stories — any one of which we’d be proud to publish. Next comes the most difficult part: selecting a single winner out of the pool of finalists. So we’re taking the weekend to make that tough decision.
Stay tuned! The winning entry will be published at Slate and right here, early next week.
The significance of this object has been invented by the author; see the project description for details. Click here to receive email updates.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I’m embarrassed to even ask this, as it’s so transparently hopeful, but would the 12 finalists know who they are by now?
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
So is there a chance that you’ll let us know who the finalists are? I just need to know if I’m going to spend the weekend in the cold sweat of anticipation.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Who are the twelve finalists??? At least give us that!
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
If they are that good, maybe you could publish a couple of the runners-up as well, like with the cartoon ones.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Gah! I keep waiting for the winner to be announced! That is exciting though, to have so many entries. Will you be announcing the top 12 entries at some point? Or notifying the top 12?
(just curious, I did enter the contest.)
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:24 pm
AHHHHH! But I could be dead by Monday!! (The anticipation is killing me!)
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Tremendous amount of talent swimming around out here, treading water for the next 72+ hours, it seems, with sharks to the left and sharks to the right….
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Sorry to keep you on tenterhooks, but it looks like we’ll announce the 11 runners-up next week, when we announce the contest winner. And it doesn’t look like any of this will happen on Monday; we’re aiming for Tuesday. Also: No, we haven’t notified the 12 finalists. They’ll find out at the same time the rest of the object-story-loving world does. And finally: We do like the idea of publishing some runners-up, but no promises. Have a good weekend, thanks so much for all the stories!!
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Thank you for the update!
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Looks like it’ll be another weekend of praying to Significus…the God of Made Up Stories Based On Assorted Bric-a-Brac.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Thanks for the update! I’ll be making my BBQ ablutions to Significus, too!
October 24th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Significus — I like that — we might have to use it, some time!
October 24th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Patent Pending!
October 26th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Good news! At the moment, we’re on track to name the winner TOMORROW (Tuesday), plus the 11 runners-up.