Our Red Light Green Light competition has been going on for weeks now, and it’s finally come time to announce our winners! After voting closed on Monday night, we tallied the votes from our judges and you, our fabulous community, and pulled out our Top 10. The entries below had the highest score overall, and will all receive a critique from a published (or soon to be published) author, or an agent.
Our overall winner and two runners up will be revealed next week. The runners up will be receiving critiques from some of the industry’s most sought after agents, and our overall winner will receive a partial request from the amazing Ammi-Joan Paquette.
PAGEANT OF THE ROSES
by Karen Day
The Pitch
The Beginning
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I murmur, walking toward the shadowy silhouette of the park; I wonder if the man whose eye I hope to catch will find me beautiful enough to kill.
Worried I have overlooked some crucial detail, I let my fingers slowly trail down the side of my face, but it is flawless—almost the exact replica of his very first victim.
Delicate, china-doll features, dimples.
The poor florist looked nothing like me. Yet today, I can be mistaken for her twin.
This is my unique ability. To become someone else.
SHELVED
In 1958 when 18-year-old Penelope’s hometown is evacuated during an atomic attack, stopping the bomb means exposing her family’s dangerous secret, risking jail or worse—their death.
The Beginning
Even though I’m expecting it, I shoot straight up in the air when the sirens wail to life from the towers on Main Street. It’s dark—the middle of the night—and the sound seeps in through my open window along with the sickly sweet aroma of grass and wilting lilac. This isn’t a normal air raid siren, but only a handful of us know that.
It’s only seconds before my bedroom door flies open, my parents rushing in. Like me, they’re already dressed and oozing adrenaline. My mother hugs a pillow to her chest while my father sits beside me on the bed.
UNFORSEEN REALITY
by Jen Dionne
NA Contemporary
When nineteen-year-old Wyatt Emerson overhears a plot involving her boyfriend to bomb Parliament in London, she must discover the details and stop the bombing before it’s too late.
“We should slit her throat straight away. Why wait?”
“Shut up, Heman! If I’m to die soon, I want to enjoy the time I’ve got left.”
“OK, Vineet. But if she finds out anything, she dies.”
I open my eyes. God, my head hurts! I face a wall. I don’t move. Where am I? Not The Three Tuns…
“Raj, are you sure you can assemble this bomb in under a day?”
“Yes, Heman, absolutely sure. I’ve got the steps memorized, and I’ve practiced with similar materials.”
“Excellent. We won’t receive the materials from the Emir until that morning.”
HAPPY
by Bethany Harar
YA Suspense
A suicide attempt brought Cay to Brayberton Academy, where the doctors have sinister intentions, and the life she tried to end becomes the one thing she must fight to keep.
I step out of the car and Brayberton Academy is in front of me, capturing the essence of dark, Southern gothic. Shadowed and complicated, with towering spires poking the sky, it looms alone on a huge span of land, surrounded by sprawling lawns and sculpted trees. The building is probably meant to inspire, but instead I feel more alone.
“Ready, Cay?” My dad moves around the front of the vehicle until he reaches my side. Placing a hand on my back, he pushes me towards the building and shuts the car door. It’s too much effort to speak, so I give a curt nod in reply.
THE ALLERGY CLUB
by Lauren Hild
YA Contemporary
All Madison has ever wanted is to open a bakery. But when she finds out she’s severely allergic to gluten and dairy, her dreams are crushed—unless she reinvents them.
Amazon sold scalpels. I assumed they would be the sort of thing that required a medical license, but there they were, available for purchase by the general public in packs of ten.
If I had a scalpel, I could carve my stomach out. That had to be less painful than keeping it inside me. And if I didn’t have a stomach, maybe I could still bake cookies and taste test. Dr. Spinelli could hook me up with a bag that everything I ate filtered into, and I wouldn’t have to worry about intestines or irreversible damage or a leaky gut.
ROSEMARY AND TIME
by Carleen Karanovic
YA Historical Fantasy
The Pitch
I was supposed to be born eight years ago, in the year of the dragon. My mother told me the story of the baby she lost before I took my first breath; that baby was full of fire. Perhaps too much fire, for she died of a fever in her first month. “Water means wisdom,” she said. “You’ll be the perfect daughter because all the water in you will make you persuasive. You’ll know how to win your husband’s family’s affection when it is time.”
I disagree.
THE DARKER HEART
by Caitlin Moore-Penaskovic
YA Contemporary Fantasy
Seventeen-year-old Riley is a Dark witch born with the Gift of Persuasion. When someone starts hunting witches, Riley must use her Gift to find the killer before he finds her.
Lies are easy to buy and sell in the dark. Lies between lovers and strangers, lies about who you are or what you’ve done – all of it’s easy comfort in the black of night. But things change in the light. The lies become more difficult to swallow, harder to ignore. So people learn a trick before they tell the lie. My trick was to leave before getting caught.
That night, I convinced myself I wanted the boy in front of me, his face blurred and his body warm. That I could be here at this party, be myself, and no one would ever have to know.
FIREBIRD
by Laura Pohl
YA Fantasy
In a tall white tower covered by snow, in a tall white castle that sat atop a tall white mountain Koschei the Immortal grew restless with loneliness. He’d survived thousands of years without company, and he’d survive thousands more, but with the winter growing cold and his castle empty, the blackness in his heart longed for another to share with the harsh winters of Russia.
His brothers and sisters suggested it was time for Koschei to find a bride – and one night, he stole away the beautiful Mariya Morevna and took her to his castle.
THE DEMON HUNTER’S INHERITANCE
by Christine Rogers
YA Fantasy
Sixteen-year-old Matt, his cousin Sarah, and their friend Jake investigate the death of Matt’s cousin Eric. But when they learn that Eric hunted demons, it gets slightly more complicated…and lethal.
Matt’s birthday was Eric’s deathday, and that was how it all started.
Matt should have realized that something was wrong sooner; his cousins were normally annoyingly punctual to any sort of party. Usually, Sarah would complain about how Mountain Dew looked radioactive and Eric would chug some cans of soda to annoy her, but Matt’s birthday party was in full swing, and they were nowhere to be seen. This was fine with Matt, though, because he had something far more important to think about.
Natalie Evans was a fellow sophomore and possibly the most beautiful girl to ever understand football.
MARKS
by Amanda Ungleich
YA Fantasy
Whatever Gretta writes down actually happens. But her words are a trail that leads back to her, and when the enemy finds her, her words can’t save her.
The acrid smell of smoke and charred wood assaults my nose before I see the fire. I turn left, my heels clipping against the worn cobblestones as hatred flames to life inside me. Normally the square swirls with smells of roasting meat and the raw, earthy scent of the tannery. Not today. Nothing fills the air but smoke and ash and destruction. The square opens before me and sure enough, bright orange flames dance on the other side. No telling what the Royal Guards have set aflame this time. Tugging my cloak tighter around me, I ease into the crowd.
