From The Editors of The Journal at The Ohio State University

Says the anonymous contributer of the following rejection, "Incidentally, I did not enter this contest but did submit a story to the Journal through their nifty online manager which apparently has a few kinks":

"Dear Writer: The Journal would like to thank you for submitting your story to our seventh annual short story contest judged by Lee K. Abbott. Your entry helped not only to support this contest but also supports The Journal, a diverse forum for literature that seeks to identify new and emerging talent alongside the work of established writers. The stories we received were distinctive, well-written, and moving. Our judge expressed his pleasure at how many wonderful stories there were to choose from and told us what a difficult choice it was to select just one winner. The winning story in this year’s contest is “The Summer of Interrogatory Subversion,” by Jacob M. Appel. Lee K. Abbott wrote of this story: This story meets the industry specifications I mean to champion: a brisk efficiency with exposition, dialogue of the sort heard on the streets hereabouts, interior lives messy and crosswise, scenes rich with detail of the significant sort, characters at the edge or either woe and weal, and an end sticks in the brain long after there’s anything left to read. Here’s a story with verve, shrewd observation of the species, and no interest at all in the familiar, the ordinary, or the already too-much studied. Finally, I applaud this writer’s affection for our kind, never mind how dumb or delightful we betimes are. “The Summer of Interrogatory Subversion” will be published in The Journal’s Autumn/Winter 2010 issue. Congratulations to our winner, and thank you for sharing your work with us. The Editors, The Journal, The Ohio State University, Department of English, 164 W. 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210.