If At First You Don't Suceed . . .

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

Suspense permeates the air.
Her stomach churns as she frantically clicks on the refresh button. It’s a long shot — she knows that — but she’s overly excited, and anxious. Ever since she received that letter telling her that she passed the first level of judging, she’s been eagerly awaiting the day the winners will be announced.
She knows she can write, and she can say that without sounding prude. She’s spent years trying to perfect her style, always striving to improve, carefully analysing feedback and applying it to her work. So no, she doesn’t expect to win — though a small part of her is giddy with the possibilities — but with all the effort she’s put into this piece, she hopes that she’ll at least be in the Runner Up list.
After the longest minute of her life, the small lights on her clock change to 12:01 am. Her eyes widen as the site refreshes, revealing a new option that has been denied until now.
‘See winners.’
A lone finger hovers over the mouse as she contemplates her options. Her heart is beating erratically, as though it’s about to jump out of her chest. Does she really want to know? Drawing the corner of her lip between her teeth, she bites down slightly, worrying the patch of skin. In an almost dramatic way (and what could you possibly expect, she’s a writer) her finger comes down onto the plastic, opening the new webpage.
Text slowly starts appearing on the screen, followed by an array of bright colours and a few photos. Blue eyes scan over the first few lines frantically, searching for something she’s craved since she was extremely. Her face falls slightly and she rubs her mouth with the back of her hand as she continues scrolling.
Although she’s always known she won’t win, she’s still been desperately praying for her name to appear under 1st Place. Still, there’s hope. Eyes flicker, taking in the multitude of names that appear as she continues searching, hoping that she’ll come across the familiar title. Her eyebrows furrow as she reaches the end of the list and she leans away from her computer slightly.
She was so sure her name would be there.
A cocktail of emotions stir up inside her, ranging from disappointment, sadness and embarrassment to, though she’d like to deny it, envy and anger. How could she have been so full of herself, believing she’d actually have a chance at winning?
As she reads through the winning entry, moisture gathers in her eyes. She knows it’s stupid, but her brain screams that this isn’t fair, that she deserves to have been on that list.
What do they have that I don’t? Is my writing really that bad?
She wipes at her eyes and cheeks, sniffling slightly as she returns to the homepage. She’s about to close the computer when two words catch her eye: Enter now.
A small smile graces her lips as her mind races.
This time, I’ll win.

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Write4Fun.net was established in 1997, and since then we have successfully completed numerous short story and poetry competitions and publications.
We receive an overwhelming positive feedback each year from the teachers, parents and students who have involvement in these competitions and publications, and we will continue to strive to attain this level of excellence with each competition we hold.

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