Following the death of Rocky, it is best for all parties to end this competition swiftly and hand out the prizes as promised.

As the independent judge, and without further ado, I declare the winner to be Ray_Liotta. Congratulations Ray. You submitted a fine story and are a deserving champion. 

However, following the highly publicized incident of legally and ethically questionable behavior by the Lincoln_Lawyer in regards to the prize funds, I would like to put out a request for legal counsel in order to recapture the prizes confiscated by the Lincoln_Lawyer for the sole benefit of a deceased member of his own family in a death unrelated to the contest. 

We would very much like to get Mr. Liotta his prize money as quickly as possible, and can only do so once the case has been resolved and all funds are returned to the competition holdings, from which they were unlawfully taken. 

Please contact me if interested in representing the case. We will compensate you extremely generously (7 digits) for your services.

Again, congrats Ray. 

I will represent you in the case. Please deliver all relevant materials to my mailbox so that I can review them, and prepare an argument. 

I am very pleased to hear that, Macarena. Do you have any credentials you can present? Following my run-in with the Lincoln_Lawyer, I find myself in a situation where skepticism over the practical abilities of prestigious mob lawyers is highly warranted. If you do not work from a car or make up bogus Supreme Court stories, that would be an excellent start to our working relationship. 

I will provide you with my CV shortly, and lien agreement form to sign. I am sure you will be pleased. 

I would like to officially announce the employment of Macarena to represent the legal interests of the competition. More to come shortly.

Big congrats to Ray_Liotta once again, we will get your prize back and into your hands as soon as possible.

Amelia was slightly dejected that she had not been announced as the winner, but perhaps it was better this way. "Excuse me, EddieMame I was wondering about the remaining promises that were made by Rocky for those who entered the contest." AmeilaGato said loudly, ensuring she could be heard over the sounds of the street, which were unnaturally busy these days. 

Amelia held up a flier that had been passed around and said, quoting the words on the paper as well as those spoken by the late Rocky,

"I'll give each person than enters six figures for doing so, and the same to their CL."

before offering the flier to the man now responsible to handing out the compensation to the participants and their leaders. "I do hope that this promise is upheld, for you see it was one of the main reasons I even participated. Bad run of luck with dice, you understand of course." Amelia smiled at the gentleman, "Thankfully, the liquidation of assets is separate from the monetary compensation that was promised, so can you please advise when we can expect to receive the funds advertised?"  AmeliaGato said to EddieMame, her hands tucked neatly in her jacket pockets. 

Man, seeing this contest unfold like this is kinda like seeing my Mum getting out of the shower. 

Now now Paulie, lets not bring this down to such low levels. We've all seen your mum getting out of the shower and this is nowhere near as big a train wreck as that.

Don't talk shit about my mum.

You have issued a challenge to duel to Tyrion.

I would also like to mention that pending our case against the Lincoln_Lawyer, in which we are seeking compensation for stolen assets as well as a further monetary award for damages, my personal intention is to use these funds to pay out everything that was promised to each contestant and more. I am but a meagre Goomba in this world and have but a measly few dollars to my own name, though I assure you I am approaching my obligations with a ferocity hitherto unseen by previous competitive writing community independent judging panels. 

@Solksjaer, your story was good. However, I'll try to explain why it didn't win. Let's say you have one strong characteristic to your writing - let's call it 'Ronaldo' - and let's say the rest of the entries were good (maybe not great) but as a whole they represented a sometimes shambolic, often passable group - let's call them 'Everton' - so essentially what you could say happened is that by not using 'Ronaldo' against 'Everton', you fucked up. I'm no PauliePoorAnalogy but I think that paints a picture, doesn't it?

Sorry, Solskjaer, I mean no disrespect with the mispelling, although I know you're used to shuffling things around for no results. 

*Zeitgeist had been monitoring the shenanigans of this competition unfolding of the past couple of days and weeks and was quietly relieved he had kept his distance from proceedings. He leant back in his chair adjusting himself to a more comfortable position, his hip had been starting to trouble him as he ages and sitting for long periods of time seem to really exasperate the matter*

*Zeitgest lifted his whiskey glass to his mouth, the ice cubes rattling agressively in the glass as the whiskey splashed across Zeitgeist's now very dry tongue, he lowered his glass and exhaled deeply as he took in the taste of the fine oak aged bourbon. He considered for a moment walking over to the crowd and pointing out a few things, but was, as usual reluctant to involve himself in matters that didn't concern him*.

*Zeitgeist wondered why people would continue to trust people from notoriously questionable bloodlines, where there most certainly had been some serious mental deficiency that had passed down from generation to generation, the newest iteration of which enjoyed being punched in the head as a side gig and routinely locked themselves in a locker with frozen meats, how bizarre.*

*Zeitgeist shook his head despondently, these competitions with little oversight from godfathers are rife for exploitation and abuse, similarly have a judge with limited writing credentials as seemingly the only critic is bound to be a recipe that is going to quesiton the veracity of the decision. Zeitgeist let out another sigh that seemed to originate in his feet and resonate through his entire person before being pushed out, somewhat forcefully. It's pretty challenging encouraing writers in our modern times and when we set up good initiatives and these things happen, it just means next time round there will be even less participation*

Sad.

*Zeitgeist put rose to his feet with raucous applause*

Bravo Sir! Bra-fucking-vo. I know with the amount of time you spend in the shallow end of the intellectual pool this must have been a challenge for you, and understanding how important positive reinforcement is for the feeble minded I will do my bit.

*Zeitgeist laughed to himself, walking away and muttering to himself but loud enough for all to hear*

"What an absolute cretin"

send all evidence to me i will work with crash  even thoguh there may be aa fee.