2016 RYS "Awesome Openers" Contest Winners!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Rate Your Story contest this year. 

We are excited to announce this year's winners below. 

Congratulations to all! 

Category -Young Adult

Jerrianne Hayslett

First Place: END OF THE ROPE by Jerrianne Hayslett

The lives of 16-year-old Jimmie Cameron and a privileged contemporary are changed forever after a late-night joyride through the Indiana countryside lands Jimmie in jail and facing a lynch mob for shooting a white man.

Julie Andrews

Second Place: FINE LINES by Julie Andrews

In FINE LINES, seventeen-year-old Kate Conner is a trained ballerina who knows life is filled with fine lines: the line between trusting and turning her back; the line between friends and lovers; the line between living on the edge and falling off of it. Kate is a recovering addict from another kind of fine line—cocaine. She knows that dance can save her, but it’s hard to stay strong when her circle of friends—her only real family—keeps pulling her toward the life she is trying to leave. 

Ariadne Lukas

Third Place: FIELD OF VIOLETS by Ariadne Lukas

When Gabby, the voice inside her head, puts seventeen-year-old Violet in the hospital, she trusts classmate Neil to help her. His shaman grandfather performs an Ojibwe ritual to help Violet discover who Gabby is and how she can save her before she causes more harm. 

Jodi Cardillo

Honorable Mention: MOVE ON UP by Jodi Cardillo

When star cross-country runner Violet Smith trips at the championships, she can't get up. After following physiotherapists, doctors and surgeons' advice to have her spine fused, her back pain persists. Faced with living life at sixteen bed-ridden, Violet must determine what's truly causing her pain and find her own path to recovery.

Category - Middle Grade

Kristine Olson

First Place: FLOWER, RIGHT HERE by Kristine Olson

When 12-year-old Louisa trusts a talking beetle to help her paint an art contest entry, she (a Korean adoptee) must learn Korean folklore to paint her way out of trouble, solve a mystery about a girl who died and save her own dream of being an artist.

Leia Johnson

Second Place: TO GO TO TOGO by Leia M. Johnson

Two Ghanaian sisters and two American brothers find friendship and adventure while they travel across West Africa. Whether they are eating Nilla wafers, riding motorcycles through the bush, or fighting fires with well water, these four young heroes find that life is better when they work together.

Jane Resides

Third Place: THE ONE-EYED RABBIT by L. Jane Resides

Twelve-year-old Maggie has nightmares they’re being bombed. On top of that, she wants to tell her father, working away in a defense plant, she’s being bullied at school. In the end, she decides to best the bullies and gain her classmates’ respect by winning first prize in the art contest. But someone’s contest entry disappears, and Maggie discovers that she's the prime suspect.

Tracey Brown

Honorable Mention: HAPPILY EVER​ by Tracey Brown

Afraid to disappoint her father, again, Hali agrees to go on a camping trip with her friend's family. Fireside sing-along's and sappy family togetherness are things to avoid at all costs, so she crosses her fingers and hopes she'll survive. She didn't mean it literally.

Category - Picture Book Fiction

Monica Lauscher

First Place: MOANA LISA, MONSTER FASHIONISTA by Monica Lauscher

Moana Lisa is a little monster. She is not, however, like other little monsters. Moana Lisa doesn’t want to be scary or creepy and frighten little girls in pretty dresses. She wants to wear pretty dresses. But can a little monster “fashionista” make her spooky, slimy, monster parents proud? Or will it be back to Scare School for her.

Midge Smith

Second Place: THE SNOW HORSE by Midge Smith

Eight-year-old Ella is teased by older brothers who think she is too little to see the mysterious snow horse. But when he appears at her window taking her for an unforgettable midnight ride, she discovers that one is never really too small for a magical adventure.

Vivian Kirkfield

Third Place: THE BOOTS OF DYLAN MCGEE by Vivian Kirkfield

Whether he is lassoing his sister, riding his dog, Rover, or sleeping in bed, cowboy-in-training Dylan McGee refuses to take off his boots. When an hour in the shower creates a boot-calaboose, Dylan must find a way to remove the toe-pinching boots that won't budge.

Katelyn Aronson

Honorable Mention: MOOSE A SNOOZIN by Katelyn Aronson

Deep in the bayou, a lonely boy's wanderings along the River Oozing lead him to a marvelous discovery. One false move, though, and he's soon the object of a wild MOOSE chase! A story of finding friendship where one least expects it...(not to mention the power of a little pecan pie).

Maria Marshall

Honorable Mention: THE ANIMALS SNOWBEAR by Maria Marshall

Grudgingly, after promised a gift, five unlikely animals join Mouse's cumulative attempt to free a mysterious present snagged in a tree and discover that combining their wishes creates the first Snowbear.

Category - Picture Boon Nonfiction

Nicole Popel

First Place: THE CANDY DESK by Nicole Popel

A Congressman keeps a red-hot secret under wraps, until it burns like a fireball, turning persnickety politicians into sweet, sugar-snacking Senators.

Sara Matson

Second Place: BUTTERFLY DETECTIVE: HOW SCIENTIST FRED URQUHART SOLVED THE MONARCH MIGRATION MYSTERY by Sara Matson

Scientist Fred Urquhart spent 40 years studying monarch butterflies in order to answer one question: where do they go during the winter? His tireless efforts led to the 1975 discovery of the monarch migration sites in the mountains of central Mexico.

Nancy Churnin

Third Place: MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN by Nancy Churnin

Deep in the heart of India, a 300-foot mountain separated a poor village from one that had a hospital, school and fields rich with crops. This is the true story of Dashrath Manjhi, a man from the poor village, who was determined to cut through that mountain. Everyone said he was crazy when he began his task using only a chisel and a hammer. Twenty-two years later, when he knocked down the last thin wall of stone, they called him a hero.

Sue Frye

Honorable mention: BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Sue Frye

Orville and Wilbur Wright shared the same lofty dream, they wanted to fly. Working together, they faced many years of trial and error in which their dream grew stronger. Then one day, their experiments finally paid off and they took to the sky.