Congratulations to our inaugural 100 Word Essay Winners: NG from the University of Maryland – College Park received the top award selected by our judges, NK, also from the University of Maryland was our randomly selected winner. 

Four campuses participated in the contest: University of Maryland – College Park, Johns Hopkins University, University of Missouri, and Lipscomb University. Congratulations to our winners and thank you to each entrant for sharing your talents with us. 

The winning entry is a wonderful short story, concise yet powerful, making our judges get “the feels” from just a few sentences: 

Adam traced his index finger along the keyboard cover, revealing the rich mahogany underneath the dust.  They bought the piano just a few days after moving in.  Adam had tried to stop her. They had just spent so much money on the house and there wasn’t even enough space and when would he have time to play and – but no excuse worked. The piano sat in their living room exactly three days later.

He hadn’t played since she died. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to. Some days, he’d longed to.  But how could he play when half of his heart was gone?

I’d also like to share two honorable mentions which made it difficult for the judges to select the “best,” the first, a personal favorite by DS from Mizzou titled “Bodies”:

Summer’s hot breath seeped through my window as I stretched my swollen feet towards the glowing green stars on my ceiling. Shifting my sticky body towards the last cool spot on my bed, I decided that asides from nighttime luminescence, these plastic imitations of celestial bodies did not at all resemble the ones outside. A creak! My eyes darted towards my closet and my toes froze mid-air. Squinting, I thought I could just make out a lanky body hiding in its depths– two rows of impossibly white teeth cutting red lips into a grin. I ached for the stars to shine brighter.

One last honorable mention, VT also of UMD, reflects the awkwardness of love reunified after time and distance:

It was a long bus ride up to Maine, my apprehension numbing my heart. The months apart had scattered our texts. 

As I stepped out into the frigid air, her smile sent my heart shivering. 

We sat by the lake, my sidelong glances remaining unnoticed as she watched the waves.

The conversation was numb, deterred further by the growing chill. 

Our eyes turned to the sky as we watched the moon bite the sun. 

The sky went dark. The temperature fell further. 

I turned to see her looking at me. Then our lips met, and I didn’t feel so cold anymore. 

I truly appreciate the effort by each student in crafting such wonderful reads. I also appreciate the willingness of participants to successfully navigate a new type of submission process leveraging the transparency provided by our browser extension.

Without the extension, each 100 words is just a static output. With Cursive the entrees come alive through the time, editing and revisions of each entry showing us that while it might only take 2.5 minutes to type 100 words. Many writers spent 30 minutes on their submissions, one took over two hours! 

It takes effort to select just the right ones to convey a feeling, emotion and to unlock the imagination of the reader. 

Look at the data from just one of the entries collected:

⏲️ Total minutes: 36.45

✂️ Total edits: 387

🚀 Total effort: 3600

100 words almost doesn’t do it justice. 

Special thanks to Consult Your Community at UMD for helping to spread the word on and off campus.