The Finalists

Well, it's time for us to announce the ten finalist of the Shattering the Glass Slipper Competition, and to open up the voting for the final winner.

But first I wanted to tell you a little bit about how the contest came to be, and follow up with a few words from Stephanie.

While at a wedding hall, a couple of months ago, I idly glanced in to the kitchen where the staff was preparing for an upcoming event. My attention was caught by a middle-aged woman washing dishes in the large industrial-size sink. As her hands dipped in and out of the soapy water the light glinted on the large diamond ring on her finger. For some reason I immediately thought about Cinderella and I found myself wondering if circumstances might have brought the fairy tale heroine to similarity be washing dishes in a kitchen somewhere, wearing her prince's diamond ring. But what might those circumstances have been. From there my mind began to concoct several elaborate possibilities of the events following Cinderella's happy ending. Perhaps the prince lost his kingdom his younger brother and he and Cinderella were forced to find work in a kitchen somewhere. And though impoverished, still in love. Or maybe the prince abandoned Cinderella for a younger women and all she has left of him his the diamond engagement ring. 

Excitedly, I decided I was going to write a collection of stories focusing on Cinderella and all of the different ways that her story might have continued after the "Happily Ever After." But then I was forced to admit that I probably never write any of these stories, but still, the idea was too good to just give up on. And so I hit upon the idea of having getting other people to write these stories instead, through a writing contest. And so the Shattering the Glass Slipper Competition was born.

But even as my mind was bubbling over with all of the different story possibilities for Cinderella I never imagined the wonderful variety of stories that we would actually end up receiving. So many of the entries just blew me away and it was a a real struggle when the time came to choose just ten of them to be voted on. But it had to be done and we are delighted to present you with the ten finalists in the contest.




When I first considered running this contest with Simcha - I was doubtful if there would be enough variety with just one theme.  Why not open it up to all the fairy tales?  But I wasn't counting on the breadth of creativity out there; quite simply, I was entranced by all the different ways writers shattered the glass slipper.  Despite the common theme of Cinderella's reinvention, each one of these finalists is enchanting and unique.

-Stephanie

RULES:

Please vote for what you believe to be the best Cinderella fairy tale retelling by commenting on THIS POST only.  The story with the most votes garners $50 prize.  The story with the second most votes will receive a copy of the fantastic anthology edited by Kate Bernheimer, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. 

One vote per person.  Finalists are excluded from voting.

You must be a registered user (including those with a Google account or Open ID) in order to vote.  Anonymous votes/commenters will be disqualified. 

Voting ends on February 21, 2011, 8:00 p.m. PST.  The winner and runner up will be announced on February 28, 2011.

The finalists in the 2011 Shattering the Glass Slipper Contest (in no particular order):

Masque by Amy Allison

Perspective by Chris Longhurst

Just Outside the Closet by Mandy Manning

Cinder Elvis by Becky Kyle

To Be Queen by Hollan Lane

Full Circle by P. L. Blair

Dark and Fair by Brian Gray

Toe to Toe by Yaddi Shaw

Best Foot Forward by T. L. Sherwood

Diamond Tear by Jane Buffham