I really enjoyed judging these. It was so challenging to decide the winners, I had my beta (who is not on HPFT) read them too for another opinion. When scoring, half of the rubric was following the prompt which included: changing one event from canon and describe how the rest of the story's events would have unfolded because of it. 1. A clear understanding of when events deviate. 2. Detailed description of how it impacts the storyline.  The other 50% was general storytelling abilities/description etc.

I know the last few months have been crazy on hpft. Thank you to these people for taking the time to enter the competition:

@juls-- What If... (M)

@Tanda -Your Warmth (T) chapter 2 and 3  (Aaahh. You changed your name. It took me forever to find you!)

@Felpata_Lupin -A crush of freaks and Muggle filth

 @Noelle Zingarella -While the Other Survives

@facingthenorthwind-Song for the Julian Calendar chapter 4-5

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

3rd Place

@facingthenorthwind-Song for the Julian Calendar chapter 4-5

Emma’s writing is always phenomenal. She has really strength in characterization which she is often able to demonstrate with minimal text. She can definitely turn a phrase making us laugh or cry with. Many times, I have read some of her ideas and thought “I wish I had written something like that.”

Emma took one of my least favorite characters, Sirius Black, and showed a more mature side of him. Rather than being all Gryffindor and enacting his own revenge on Wormtail, he focuses more on Harry’s wellbeing that fateful night. The result being a wonderful What if AU.  

Contact me for the 2 stories you would like reviews on. Contact @wildest_dreams for a graphic of your choice (prize graphic, picspam or banner.)

2nd PLACE 

@juls-- What If... (M)

Just the title itself guarantees a What If and it’s definitely one of the classics that many of us have wondered: What if Snape survive the Shrieking Shack. In this version, it’s very obvious that Snape didn’t expect to survive and, indeed, feels that he didn’t deserve to, despite those rallying around him. One can really see the turmoil in Snape as he’s sitting at his own trial, watching his secrets exposed for the world, but at the end Juls gives us a tiny glimmer of hope for Snape. Maybe, there was a reason he survived. He just needs to find out what it is.

Contact me for the 4 stories you would like reviews on. Contact @wildest_dreams for a graphic of your choice (prize graphic, picspam or banner.)

1st PLACE 

@Noelle Zingarella-While the Other Survives

Unlike Jul’s What If, this is a scenario, I had never considered before but it hooked me right in: supposed Hermione refused to go to the Department of Mysteries but instead goes back to tell Snape where they went. Noelle showed excellent writing in dialogue, characterization and action scenes. She took an event and really showed how the arrival of one unexpected person could change everything. Although I really wanted to take off points for the death of a character that shouldn’t have happened in book 5 (or in my opinion at all), this story still came out a winner.

Contact me for the 6 stories you would like reviews on. Contact @wildest_dreams for a graphic of your choice (prize graphic, picspam or banner.)

Thanks again for everyone who participated. You all are awesome!