Announcing the winners of our Whodunnit competition

My, you're a bloodthirsty lot, lol.

When I first got sent the shortlist through, I thought, oh fab, I'll have a sit down with a cuppa and go through them. That'll be nice and relaxing. Oh, how wrong I was. Blood, guts, more blood. Pretty sure there were some entrails at one point.

Despite all that, the quality of writing was absolutely excellent, and I'm in awe of anyone who can weave erotica into their story with such skill.

So without further ado, the crown for this comp goes to TheShyThespian, who takes top spot with his intricate tale of lust and witchcraft through the ages, Fabian's Folly.

Sprite takes second place (I'm fairly sure that's where the entrails came from) with her dark and bloodthirsty vigilante tale, Glitch.

Third place goes to the fabulous KatieTheWriter, who penned a most excellent take of intrigue and mystery in a very cyber/noir setting. Virtual Vice takes the bronze.

The full list of winners is below, so many congrats to those who placed, and my thanks to everyone who took part. As usual, I'd like to extend my personal thanks to the person who had the job of shortlisting this time around, and of course to the rest of the judges for your insights and comments.

A new competition will be announced shortly.

Full list of winners:

1. Fabian’s Folly—TheShyThespian $150 prize

2. Glitch—Sprite $100 prize

3. Virtual Vice—KatieTheWriter $50 prize

4. Porn is dead, long live porn—Wannabe Wordsmith

5. How I solved my own murder—Toreador

6. The Stolen Apartment—AmuseBouche

7. Noir Blues—Ascendent

8. Underground Because—theprofessor

9. One Last Job—SatinSmiles

10. Steampunk Hannah—RedFireBrand

Congratulations, all!

Congratulations everyone.. a superb top 3, or indeed top 10. Is that two in a row for the Thespian.. can he get a hat-trick?

Congrats to the winners. I was really impressed with the storylines. Shout out to all who entered, always a challenge writing for a Comp.🍺

Jen is hot.

Congrats to the great ten and especially to those on the podium. All excellent writing! I don't envy Jen having to choose.

well, fuck. i was sure that the best i'd do would the bottom of the contender's list... wow. shout out to ShyThespian for writing a story that so deserved 1st place and to Katie the writer - always love seeing new names on the podium. a lot of great stories in the top 10 too who should be really proud of themselves. and again, well, fuck.

My most heartfelt congratulations to ShyThespian, Sprite (❤️) and Katie! Thank you so much to Jen, the moderators and the judges, too. This one could not have been easy!

I think this challenged the many writers who entered, and they should be very proud to showcase their considerable talent. I know I will not be volunteering to write so many words without considerable thought! I found it exhausting. I do know that I should read more crime thrillers in future; it is a genre I have come to respect much more.

To be placed is a great honour; I am always very humbled and thrilled. Thank you so much for your consideration. 😘

Congratulations to the winners and to all those who took part. 😊

Huge congratulations to the top three in this fiercely inventive competition. Highly deserved. After submitting mine and beginning to read others, I felt my chances of even making the top ten gradually slipping away, so to place fourth feels like a wonderful gift.

I admit I haven't yet made it all the way up the list so I've not read some of the top ten. I'll endeavour to make amends, time permitting.

As always, many thanks to the tireless work of the judges, the shortlister, Jen and the team who keep the site running, and to everyone who participated in the competition or even took the time to read, vote and comment on the excellent and diverse array of stories in the running. Lush competitions are always a challenge, and it takes courage to put your hard work out there for consideration, so supporting the authors is very much appreciated.

Now of course, all eyes will be on TheShyThespian to see if he can become the first (?) writer in Lush history to top three consecutive competitions. No pressure, Jason

Congratulations to all the winners! I’ve only read four of the ten, all of which were excellent, so it looks like I’ve got some early-winter reading to do. Great work, everyone.

I wasnt on the runner up list but I got 10th place on here! Not bad for my first ever attempt. Id love to know the judgement criteria and where I might need to improve for the next go around.

Congrats to the winners! I've read the gold and bronze place stories, and they were both fantastic. Also read some really good stories I'm surprised didn't even make the top 10.

Quote by LYFBUZ

Jen is hot.

Congratulations to the winners and those rounding out the top 10. Time constraints have kept me behind in reading the entries, but I will get there.

Thanks to all involved for the dedicated work that makes these competitions happen.

Quote by LYFBUZ

Congrats to the winners. I was really impressed with the storylines. Shout out to all who entered, always a challenge writing for a Comp.🍺

Jen is hot.

please stop flirting with my girlfriend or i will be forced to hurt you.

Congrats to all the winners! i absolutely loved reading the stories and also participating

Quote by sprite

please stop flirting with my girlfriend or i will be forced to hurt you.

That's what he said to me 🤪

😳 Just a little bit speechless (if that's not an oxymoron). Stunned. As usual, I wasn't sure if I'd written something anybody would actually like - or worse, understand.

But am very happy 😊. It was also great to see so many 'unusual' suspects in the top ten - including some late entries which have proven worthy. I hope to catch up with some of those that I missed.

A huge congratulations to all my fellow writers who dared to enter, and particularly those that I am sharing the accolades with. This was an enjoyable and challenging theme, particularly with a word length that has previously left me floundering a bit.

Thank you to all those that helped organise and run the competition (and Lush more generally), in particular Jen, her shortlister and the judges who made this possible. Can I please now go and hide in a corner?

Quote by deviantsusie
Is that two in a row for the Thespian.. can he get a hat-trick?

I do seem to recall, when I was a competition rookie (many moons ago), a certain writer also achieving two wins in a row. I was like 'Damn, how did she do that?' 😊

Three? Ha, right.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith
Now of course, all eyes will be on TheShyThespian to see if he can become the first (?) writer in Lush history to top three consecutive competitions. No pressure, Jason

TheShyThespian last seen running for the hills at high speed...

Seriously, lightning may possibly strike twice in the same place, but three times? Surely it would be rude to even try? Perhaps I should just take a break and get on with trying to write the novel I have been avoiding for the last 18 months.

Gahhh!

Quote by Jen

That's what he said to me 🤪

rolling my eyes at both of you now

Quote by TheShyThespian

TheShyThespian last seen running for the hills at high speed...

Seriously, lightning may possibly strike twice in the same place, but three times? Surely it would be rude to even try? Perhaps I should just take a break and get on with trying to write the novel I have been avoiding for the last 18 months.

Gahhh!

go for it - i am so hoping you do it. be sooo cool )

Quote by TheShyThespian
Perhaps I should just take a break and get on with trying to write the novel I have been avoiding for the last 18 months.

I wrote a novel before coming onto the site. It was my first serious attempt at writing anything. No idea how good it is since I didnt plan anything when I started but people seemed to enjoy it where I posted it before I came here. So if I can do it I am sure you can. My entry for this competition was a prequel story.

YEA! I think that all 10 are worthy choices.

It was a fun comp, and one I struggled with, but eventually managed to finish.

Congratulations Jason – again! – Rachel, and Katie!

And well done to all who entered. It must have been a staggering problem for the judges to select.

Quote by TheShyThespian

I do seem to recall, when I was a competition rookie (many moons ago), a certain writer also achieving two wins in a row. I was like 'Damn, how did she do that?' 😊

Three? Ha, right.

Mmmhmmm and someone's got to do it 😘

Congratulations to all contenders!

Congrats to all who entered, the top ten and in particularly the podium three. I've not read as many as I would like, but did manage three of the top four, which were a testament to the quality of writing on Lush. I also loved many of the stories outside the top ten, which shows how deep quality runs.

As always, thanks to those who entered, who read and commented, who organized and who judged. Thanks also to those who read my story; bring on the next competition.

Congratulations to Mr T, Sprite, KatieTheWriter, the rest of the Top Ten and all who entered!

Thanks to Jen, shortlister, and judges, too, for giving your time to these competitions! ❤️

I'm absolutely chuffed to be in the top three. I submitted early and with only like 5 other entries I though I'd have a good chance. That number really grew substantially as we reached the deadline and I thought I was out of the running, especially with this being my first contest and the stories that I had read being so hot. I couldn't believe it when I logged on to see I got third. Thanks you so much and I look forward to reading the other's I haven't got to yet, especially TheShyThespian, lust and witchcraft through the ages seems right up my street.

Quote by KatieTheWriter

I'm absolutely chuffed to be in the top three. I submitted early and with only like 5 other entries I though I'd have a good chance. That number really grew substantially as we reached the deadline and I thought I was out of the running, especially with this being my first contest and the stories that I had read being so hot. I couldn't believe it when I logged on to see I got third. Thanks you so much and I look forward to reading the other's I haven't got to yet, especially TheShyThespian, lust and witchcraft through the ages seems right up my street.

Congratulations, Katie. yeah, it's a good feeling, isn't it? and it never grows old