Okay, the last time I put on a contest I regretted it. Why? Because it was so terribly hard to choose a single winner. Below are the submissions, in no particular order, so you can see what a tough decision this was.First we have Matt and Amanda Marlin, with their dog Loki, dressed as a very fashionable (and very bearded) Janner, Leeli (with a whistleharp and crutch), and a convincing Kalmar (boasting an actual tail). Nice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is Lydia Townsend, as Leeli--also with an impressively homemade crutch. I dig the addition of Tiny Nugget.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Here's the description of the next kids, written by their mom: "Carter, age 7, wanted to be Slarb the Fang. Sydney is 6 and she wanted to be Leeli. (She specifically asked for a crutch that said "Lizard Kicker" on it, then remembered that Leeli doesn't get it until after their encounter with Slarb, so she went back and found that she needed purple flowers. She also pointed out that it was Leeli's right foot that was twisted, and asked that I note these two details when writing you.) Camelia is 4 and she wanted to be Nugget. It was a hard choice for her, as she found a grey wolf costume in her size and contemplated being a Grey Fang, but ultimately decided she wanted to be good, not bad."Great job, guys! Bonus points for attention to detail.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Now presenting Merrick Hedlund (13) as the Florid Sword. Avast! Aha! I would love to hear Merrick's accent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And Merrick's sister Miranda Hedlund (21) terrified the world as the Stone Keeper. Appropriately creepy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This one is especially cool, because we have not just Nugget with a cutout of Leeli on his back, BUT...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...the little guy's actual, bona fide, on-his-birth-certificate name is Janner! Janner Forrester (2). He's the second Janner I've met this year, which makes me happy and freaked out in equal measure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And here's Janner as Nugget with his dad Andrew as Peet the Sock Man. Awesome.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is Grace Beasley as Leeli, also with a custom crutch and whistleharp. Beautiful! If I were shooting a Wingfeather film this week (and, sadly, I'm not), I'd cast Grace as Leeli immediately.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Finally, as a sort of honorable mention because though she didn't dress up as a character in the books, she dressed as a Hollish sailor and invented a whole Wingfeather Saga backstory for the character, I present Savanna DeWolf as Bryllen Tate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There you go! Thank you all for reading the books and going to all the trouble to put these costumes together. I can't tell you how weird it is to think up these characters and then see real-live versions of them. Tonight after the concert I finally (with the help of my buddy Andy Gullahorn) chose the winners.Fourth place: a tie between Loki, Matt, Amanda, Miranda, and SavannaThird place: a tie between Lydia Townsend and Merrick HedlundSecond place: a tie between Carter/Sydney/Camelia, and Janner ForresterFirst place goes to Grace Beasley!Congratulations, folks. Here's the scoop with prizes. Grace wins a sketch and a signed deluxe edition of Light for the Lost Boy. Since second and third places had ties, I decided to go ahead and draw something for each of the winners (meaning the Cook kids get one sketch, Janner gets one, as do Lydia and Merrick). That's five sketches, which means I'd better get busy. I should remind you that a) I'm not a real artist--only a hack, b) it will take me until next week to get them finished, c) the drawing will be on a 6x8 sheet of sketch paper, ripped straight from my 6x8 Strathmore sketchbook, and d) the drawing might be of a Skreean or Dangish creature, the very sight of which might curdle your milk. Okay? Okay. All you guys have to do is send your address to andrew at wingfeathersaga dot com. This is important: put "Wingfeather Contest" in the subject line so your email doesn't get lost in the shuffle. If you guys in fourth place send me your address we'll put something in the mail to you, too.Thanks again! This was fun. Back to work on The Warden and the Wolf King.AP