We Have A Win-ah!

(We also have a bad Winston Churchill impression).

Cue theme music.

As we were reading through all of your submissions, we noticed a common thread in those of you who included a little email. Seems you all either had a blast writing, or--even better--had a rewarding time writing essays to us. Several of you said that even if you didn't win anything, writing about the marathon gave you a neat sense of fulfillment. That's great. We're very, very happy that you wrote, and loved evaluating all the submissions. Thanks guys!

Aaaaand on to the prizes!

Er, prize.

Nikkei Meline receives our grand prize (and highest compliments!) for her essay, "All's Well that Ends Well." The judges were unanimous; we love it. We'd tell you that you just have to read it, it's amazing, but of course you will read it, either in the swank little publication we call InRoads, or in an upcoming issue of Northwest Runner magazine. In addition to the wealth of bragging rights that come with being a published essayist, Nikkei also wins next year's race entry fee, not a bad chunk of cash at all. Congratulations Nikkei!

Then there were three essays that were close to winning, and while we hadn't planned a category for them, we feel very strongly that we should mention our

Runners Up (We know. It's a pun. We're brilliant.) Please applaud for Austin Henderson, Jill Josquin, and Todd Rogers, all of whom made the judging process a challenge. Well done!

That's it! Keep running this summer, and, of course, keep writing!

--Team Windermuse

Winners in a Week!

We here at Team Windermuse have not slept in days. We subsist entirely on diet soda and cheesy fries. We never leave our rooms.

We're reading your submissions.

A big thanks to everyone who submitted! We're giving each entry three separate reads, evaluating based on our judging criteria (below) and then debating it hotly as a group. Should be a lot of fun, from which one and only one entry will emerge victorious.

It's probably yours, right? Check back in on Friday, 12 June 2009 for the official announcement.

Good luck!