Best of STTS Awards
Copyright (c) 1994, Joe DeRouen
All rights reserved


In July of 1993, Sunlight Through The Shadows Magazine began.  It's
been a dream of publisher Joe DeRouen to start an electronic magazine,
one he'd managed to put off and ignore for years.  Finally, he could
take it no more.  The dream had to be released.

Several months after the introduction of Joe's BBS Sunlight Through The
Shadows, the magazine was born.  But what to call it?

Several names were suggested.  Joe's favorite was "Intergalactic
Fiction, News, and Review".  In fact, the magazine almost went to press
bearing that title until Bruce Diamond (erstwhile movie reviewer,
fiction writer, STTS staff member, and friend of Joe's) managed to
convince him to simply use the name of his BBS instead.  Thus, Sunlight
Through The Shadows International Electronic Magazine was born.

Of course, back then it wasn't exactly international.  Texas was pretty
much it's limits.  During the course of a year, though, STTS has managed
to worm it's way into the hearts of over 10,000 readers worldwide in at
least eight different countries.  

In it's year-long run, the magazine has managed to bring a few "firsts"
to the world of on-line publishing.  It was the first to offer writers
honorariums for their work.  It was the first to offer yearly cash
awards for the "best of" prize winners.  STTS plans on having many more
firsts in the months and years to come.

This month, STTS Magazine celebrates it's first one-year anniversary.
To help celebrate, we've picked the best stories, poems, and non-fiction
pieces (five in each category) of the last year and reprinted them here
today.

The top piece in each category will receive $50.00 (fiction), $25.00
(non-fiction) and $25.00 (poetry).  Everyone else (2nd place through
5th, and five honorable mentions) will receive certificates of merit
suitable for framing.  Of course, the winner will also receive a
certificate.

Winners were chosen via a anonymous voting process from the members of
the staff of STTS.  Each staff member voted for his or her top stories
of the last year and each place in the ranks was assigned a point value.
A "number-one" story got four points, a "number-two" story got three
points, etc.  Everything was tabulated in a very scientific way (Joe and
his little calculator) and the results were decided just a day before
publication.

Initially, staff members couldn't win the prize.  We decided that that
was silly.  A rule was instituted that you couldn't vote for yourself
but that a staff member *could* win, and that was that.  Everything was
fair, and the votes were ready to be tallied.

Thus, the winners.  The winners, top four runners-up, and honorable
mentions are:


Fiction
-------
 1. The Caravan by A.M.Eckard (Jan 94)
 2. Lifeboat by Robert McKay (Mar 94)
 3. A Chance Meeting in the Park by Joe DeRouen (Feb 94)
 4. A Close Encounter of a Different Kind by Sylvia Ramsey (Feb 94)
 5. The Imp by Ed Davis (Aug 93)
 6. It's All Greek to Uncle Thaddeus by Joe DeRouen (Nov 93)
 7. A Cold Montreal Winter by Daniel Sendecki (Jun 94)  
 8. Wally, Beware the Cybermaster by Franchot Lewis (Oct 93)
 9. The Squirrels by L. Shawn Aiken (Dec 93)
10. Djinn, I Win! by Joe DeRouen (Aug 93)



Non-Fiction
-----------
 1. [TIE] Michael Elansky: Anarchist? by Gage Steele (Nov 93)
 1. [TIE] Musings by Joe DeRouen (May 94)  
 3. If I Had One Wish... by L.J. Herbert (Oct 93)
 4. A Pancea for Cheezy Movies by L. Shawn Aiken (Feb 94)
 5. Halloween: A Prequel by Brigid Childs (Oct 93)
 6. A Plausible Model for Space Combat by Robert McKay (Jan 94)
 7. From the Journals of... (Pt.2) by Gage Steele (Sep 93)
 8. Cancer: Surviving the Fear by Joe DeRouen (Jul 93)
 9. Interview: Dr. Kenneth Matsumura, M.D. by L. Shawn Aiken (Feb 94)
10. Animal Rights and Wrongs by Kathy Kemper (Mar 94)


Poetry
------
 1. A Mushroom Dawn by Daniel Sendecki (Apr 94)
 1. Gray House Cat by Jim Reid (Dec 93)
 3. Mi'Lord by Patricia Meeks (Dec 93)
 4. In Time the Heart Will Wander by Tamara (Dec 93)
 5. Touch Me by Patricia Meeks (Sep 93)
 6. The Real Inheritan by Jim Reid (Jan 94)
 7. Bumper Sticker Beliefs by J. Guenther (Apr 94)
 8. Young Man On a Fence, 1967 by Daniel Sendecki (Oct 93)
 9. A Christmas Trilogy by Joe DeRouen (Dec 93)
10. Mom by David M. Ziegler (May 94)           


The winner and the next four runner-ups are featured in this issue of
STTS.  If you're interested in reading any of the other stories,
articles, or poems, please look for the old issues of the magazine.  If
all else fails, call STTS BBS at 214/620-8793 and download away! 

A few comments about the voting: Gage Steele's MICHAEL ELANSKY:
ANARCHIST? and Joe DeRouen's (that's me!) MUSINGS tied for top honours
in the non-fiction category.  We'll split the prize, and my share
($12.50) will go to the American Cancer Society. 

Patricia Meeks scored impressive marks as being the only candidate to
place two entries into the top five.  She did this in the poetry
category, securing both 3rd and 5th place.  Another of her poems, THE
DOVE, while not cracking the top ten, gained quite a few votes.  If
everyone had consolidated their votes for Ms. Meeks into one poem,
there's a good chance she would have scored the top honour.  Likewise,
Jim Reid placed 2nd and 6th.  He, too, came close to the top.

In the end, however, Canadian Daniel Sendecki's A MUSHROOM DAWN grabbed
the top prize.  Congratulations, Daniel! 

A.M.Eckard's THE CARAVAN won the fiction competition hands-down, beating
out the next closest entry (Robert McKay's LIFEBOAT by just about a
third more votes.  Congratulations A.M., and we'll be expecting more
great fiction from you in the months to come!

All in all, the first year of STTS has been great.  We had literally
hundreds of entries to choose from for the top prizes, and just about
all of the entries were good enough to win.  Our only regret is that we
can't honour each and every one of the writers who's work has graced the
electronic pages of STTS. 

Without the writers, and, just as importantly if not more so, the
readers, STTS could not be what it is today.  We'd like to thank the
over fifty writers who've appeared in these electronic pages, the
hundreds of BBS's that carry us, and the over 10,000 readers out there
for helping to make all this possible.  You're the greatest!


Joe DeRouen
July 5th, 1994

  Ŀ
   Winners:  Please contact me!  If you're in the top ten in any   
   of the categories, I need to get your address so I can send     
   you your awards/certificates.  You can reach me through         
   RIME, Pen & Brush Net, WME, the internet                        
   (Joe.DeRouen@Chryasalis.ORG) or via my BBS at 214/620-9793.     
                                                                   
   If all else fails, write to me at:  Joe DeRouen, 14232 Marsh Ln.
   #51, Dallas Texas, 75244.                                       
  

