Date:         Wed, 16 Dec 1998 23:12:33 -0500
From: "the rags of time..." <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      [WRITERS] INT: Who Broke the Abacus?  (a leak from the judges'
              tent)

[the edges of the tent billow in the wind, with grains of sand jumping and
hopping and popping under the invectives being bandied about by the dim
figures inside -- no reflection on their abilities, it's just that there is
no light in the tent!  -- "I 13?  N 42?  Carry 3 and divide by the
imagination, then multiply... go forth?  No, you can't leave the tent until
you've counted, accounted, and re-counted!"  "BINGO!"  "We have a
winn...stop that!"

and in one of the streams running out of the tent, you notice a wad of
paper.  You pick it up, flatten it out, and ignore the heading that says
"these numbers have not been cross-checked, so don't read them, or at least
don't get too excited about them" in big red ink, staring at the almost
illegible scrawl that says...]

Best All-Around List Member
Winner: Judy Ray, with 40% of the vote!
Close runner-up's: Peter C. Davis, Laura Bell, tink

Best Contest Organizer
Winner: Robyn Herrington with 43% of the vote
Close runner-up's: Phanny, Anthony, tink
      " Anthony and Tink, well because you guys put this together and I
was worried it wouldn't happen.  Always loved this contest "

Best Critiquer
Winner: Robyn Herrington 67%
Close runner-up's: Nora Mulligan, Laura DePinto

Best Flame Douser
Winner: Wolfess Elle and tink have a tie with 50 percent of the vote
each!

Best Interactive Character
Winner:  Koyo (Bill Clinton was nominated but disqualified by the
judges for resembling a real-life person :-)

Best Interactive Story
Winner: Goldman Pictures and Mr. Noon gets a cab ride tied for first
place.  (The Lewinsky Affair was nominated but while it bears no
resemblance to real life, we had trouble convincing a sample audience
that there was anything there worth paying attention to :-)

Best List Pair
Winner: Mark (MWW) and Jeannie ("midnight") with 40 percent of the vote
close runner-up's: Mat & Jeff, Judy Ray and Anthony V. Toscano, Jeff &
Alison

Best Overall Posts
Winners: you are all winners!
Worthy of particular attention: Judy Ray, Marshall Gilula, Susan
Minyard, Cate Merideth, Lady Wynter, Woofess

Best Signature File
Another tie?  Nominations include: Anthony Dauer, tink, Jeff Hall

Best TECH Contributor
Winner: Dan Goodman with 50 percent of the vote
close runner-up's: Antaeus Feldspar with 33 percent and Dustin with 17
percent

Best Website (appearance)
Winner: Poeticus Furor Cafe (Anthony!) with 50 percent of the vote
Close runner-up's: Marshall Gilula, MWWorthen and Carol Cross

Best Website (content, helpfulness)
Winner: Poeticus Furor Cafi (Anthony!) with a whopping 75 percent of
the vote!
Close runner-up: Joy Robinson

Best Writing Exercises
Winner: tink with way too much of the vote
close runner-up: Jane Gray

[the paper is torn, and you beat your fist quietly on the sand, realizing
that you'll have to wait to find out more...]

"The friends that have it I do wrong
When ever I remake a song
Should know what issue is at stake,
It is myself that I remake."  William Butler Yeats

tink