We are delighted to wrap up The Honest Storytelling Challenge 2022 and announce our winners. This winter, we received 66 stories that shed light on what honesty means to our community, and its role in our social and cultural identities. Our panel of six volunteer judges were impressed by the quality and range of the entries, which spanned fiction and creative nonfiction. From these entries, we selected 4 prize winners for each of our judging categories: Humor, Surprise, Insight, and Overall.
This was our first annual run of this writing challenge, and we could not be more thrilled by the outcome. Our judges were inspired by the robust and thoughtful perspectives they read. Some stories covered the topic of staying true to oneself amidst adversity, while others discussed the struggles that come with honest communication in close relationships. Many stories shared lessons learned about the nuances of telling the truth, which moved many of our judges to tears, laughter, and introspection.
Our panel was also challenged: some stories explored some hard truths about truth, like when concealing the truth is better than revealing it. Though these sometimes inspired some inner conflict, the submissions that presented moral dilemmas and questioned “right” and “wrong” helped cultivate the nature of The Honest Storytelling Challenge as an intimate exploration of honesty in all its forms.
We had 66 entrants, 18 finalists, and 4 prize winners. It was incredibly hard for our judges to choose — because honestly, how can you choose just a few favorites from so many rich submissions? — but there were a few that really struck an emotional chord with our panel and blew the judging rubric out of the water. Without further ado, here are our prize winners!
Grand Prize Winner: The Good China - Colleen Alles
Winner of the Humor category: Yep, That's Mine (And, honestly? It's awesome.) - Amy D. Robinson
Winner of the Surprise category: This Journal Belongs to Andrew Adler - Alyssa Brocker
Winner of the Insight category: 1962: It's Always the Girl's Fault - DC Diamondopolous
Though the writing challenge is officially over for this year, the story of honesty in our everyday lives is always being written and rewritten. As we enter the new year, we hope you can absorb the wisdom from these stories and continue reflecting on your relationship to critical thought, truth, and understanding.
Finally, this would not have been possible without our Sponsors. Please check them out and connect with us to sponsor or help with future challenges!
Congratulations again to our prize winners, and thank you to all our Judges and participants for building community around this topic.
Stay tuned for future challenges and story publication updates!
Thank you,