Notable Honorable Mention: 2026 Page One Prize

I am thrilled to share that a piece I entered in a contest called the Page One Prize by the Gutsy Great Novelist, was selected as a Notable Honorable Mention! I originally had this scene in the middle of my work in progress, a novel called Live and Impersonated, but learning about how to effectively hook readers, it occurred to me that this scene would be a fantastic hook, presenting an exciting piece out of chronological order.

I received this feedback from Joan Dempsey, author and judge of the Page One Prize:

Thank you for your terrific writing.

I found your opening scene really vivid and compelling—you put the reader instantly into the scene using very few details (just enough to respect your reader to fill in the blanks), and of course a nuclear attack on Las Vegas is a massively interesting plot that readers will want to follow. I already like Tom, too, even from the little we get of him on this opening page. I want to see how he navigates his job in the face of this catastrophe.

Well done!

Like wow! I was giddy hearing this from a writing instructor and author who I have never met or even spoken to.

The contest was a blind contest, so she was judging the work by itself with no room for bias to sneak in, and there were apparently 777 entries to the contest. So, to be somewhere between 4th and 9th place (not that the Notables were numbered—they were listed alphabetically), I’m really proud of this achievement!

I’ll definitely apply to this and other contests like this again in the future.