And The "Santa Baby" Winner is...

It's twelve noon EST and the moment has come to announce the winner of the Santa Challenge. The judging produced complex thoughts, because the Top Ten had many complexities within it. Selecting a winner from this mixed bag required a criterion - how deep and wide must the reach be for the memoir to earn back its advance? I decided that the best memoirists are those who connect most universally; even if their experience is so far out of our own daily (in this case, annual) reach, the autobiography should begin with something that speaks to us all - for good or ill. Given the emotion surrounding Santa, I opted for a deep truth generated by his very existence. For many, the very name "Santa Claus," even the hint of a "ho, ho, ho," or the jingling of a distant sleighbell high up, late at night, brings with it a re-visiting of trauma; perhaps a hurt, glassy tear in the eye; or a bitter, incurable feeling of betrayal. Accordingly the winner is:

PNicholson77
The first lie your parents ever told you, was probably about me.

And once the address is furnished to us, a copy of Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales will be sent; mailmen, or fedex/ups people will deliver it, not faux-jolly little gnarled creatures in green suits. Congratulations, PNicholson - and thank you for a profound, disturbing but searingly honest representation of a man about whom I still feel deeply ambivalent, who wounded me so deeply when I was fifteen.

Comments

[vivienne]

Hear the squealing and clapping? Delighted with the choice for winner..and for all the same reasons, though I didn't know why it appealed so much,until the master expressionist explained it here...I just knew I ADORED it! Congrats to the winner! Your entry was perfect and I was pulling for you all along! Happy Day!

[OnewordTF]

Congrats PNicholson77. It is indeed profound and deep. Having been fostered then adopted I shied away from the line. Still think thewritertype's chimney/analyst entry should get a very special mention.

But...

Thank you Mr Delaney for a truly spirited Christmas challenge! I really hope we don't have to wait until Easter for the next!

Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year to you Frank and the Challenge team :)

[Paul Bassett Davies]

I'm very happy to have been included in the finals, and thank you for such an enjoyable competition. And congratulations to the winner - a very good line which has one of the great virtues of good writing in that it is crafted to seem simple, and another in that it evokes powerful resonance with universal experience (as Mr Delaney said). God Bless us one and all, and all, and all, to be sure.

[Heidi]

These contests of yours are truly wonderful. It is so much fun to challenge oneself in the land of 140 characters. I too am honored to have been included in the list. Congratulations to the winner and his evocative line.

[Phillip Nicholson]

Thank you all for the kind words. I cannot tell you how much it means to me. Congratulations to the other finalists as well.

Merry Christmas!

[Richard Hine]

Congratulations Phillip Nicholson! Fine work. I was pleased to make the finals, and happy to see the best tweet win!

[Dr Dre Beats]

That was my thought,too.