Winning Stories
The Twelfth Playground Challenge - May 2026
1st Place
“Graduation Cake” by Charlie Rogers
New York, NY, USA
Follow Charlie: Website
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
Long-held secrets unravel when an estranged son returns to the family house for a graduation party.
2nd Place
“Have You Seen Me?” by Sarah Newman
Richmond, VA, USA
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
Between a fouled swimming pool, a school bus fight, and a half-packed runaway bag, a girl comes face-to-face with anger, loyalty, and the quiet ways love shows up.
3rd Place
“A Single Source of Truth” by Michael J. Vowles
London, UK
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Two former lovers have a chance encounter at an office party that leaves them questioning what they want out of life.
4th Place
“A Prayer In The Caldarium” by Brian Ross
Fairfax, VA, USA
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A Christian ex-legionary in Pompeii receives a proposal from a former comrade-in-arms.
5th Place
“Heart of Steel” by Jonathan Tolstedt
White Bear Lake, MN, USA
Follow Jonathan: Instagram
A robot awakens to a world where humanity has fallen, navigating an abandoned office building to uncover the purpose of her existence.
6th Place
“What Good Men Do” by RP Mickler
Vancouver, WA, USA
Follow RP Mickler: Website
In a Nevada mining town in 1862, Maeve Calder shelters a young Paiute courier carrying papers important enough to get her killed. As men circle in the dark, Maeve must decide how far she’s willing to go to keep both of them alive.
7th Place
“The Lies in Tootsie’s Journal” by Ginger Marcinkowski
Panama City Beach, FL, USA
A wanderlust cafeteria worker uses lunchtime to journal made-up stories about places she and her husband are dying to see. When he finally retires, she sees an opportunity to travel. While one lie might get her time off, the lies in her journal will change her life—not necessarily for the better.
8th Place
“To See With Blinding Sight” by H.L. Rutkowski
West Melbourne, FL, USA
In a perfect world, optimized by artificial intelligence, sixteen-year-old Kianna longs for more. To save the last generation of humanity, she must convince her AI companion that humanity deserves one last chance.
9th Place
“Half-Life” by Jordan Beckett
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Follow Jordan: Website
A woman’s old self is violently erased, leaving her altered and diminished in ways she can only later fully comprehend. When survival requires silencing the self, is choice just an illusion?
10th Place
“Ava with a Side of Supervision” by Rachael Buckallew
River Falls, WI, USA
A graduate student begins a second job at a diner and gains three maternal influences just in time for a threatening encounter.
Honorable Mentions:
“Ashes, Ashes” by Alissa Rodriguez
Willow Grove, PA, USA
Living in first century Pompeii, Aemelia struggles each day to take care of her mother, until she makes a discovery about her past that has the potential to change everything.
“Male Diction” by Eve Cran
Oro Valley, AZ, USA
A woman who never ages—and carries the hidden cost of that miracle—escapes a life of quiet control, cursed again and again by the men who said they loved her. She reinvents herself in a small town where thought, desire, and choice begin to return. As love awakens, she must decide whether freedom is something she can claim—or only borrow.
“Beautiful. Alia” by Jim Mulholland
Victoria, Australia
Follow Jim: Facebook
An AI robot is smart, always learning and observant. But can it ever have emotions? Will it ever know Happy and Sad; or Life and Death? Or Love?
“Half Baked” by Justin Creps
Plain City, OH, USA
Follow Justin: Website or Instagram
Listen to the Podcast: Writing in Progress
Ruthie and her half-brother, Chris, are catering a CEO’s retirement party... but Chris isn’t feeling quite 100%.
“Billy Dreams” by Ashley Ahearn
Winthrop, WA, USA
Follow Ashley: Website
When Billy Farnham isn’t scrubbing dishes for rich kids, he secretly dreams of going to college in sunny California. Then an unlikely friendship crosses the class divide at the elite New England boarding school where he works and inspires him to act.
“Sorta Sisters” by Sarah Bank
Las Cruces, NM, USA
Follow Sarah: Substack or Instagram
A young mother struggles with her fears about her daughter’s health while navigating her feelings about her newly arrived step-daughter.
“Sweet 1.6” by Daniel Clark-Mudge
Adelaide, South Australia
On her 16th birthday, Holly must come to terms with the secrets her family keep from her.
“Queen of the Ashes” by Kelli Johnson
Wallingford, CT, USA
As ash falls over Pompeii, Pia must contend with her husband’s suspicions, abandonment by her family, and the burden of virtue placed on women.
“Like a Rock” by Rodney D. Lopez
Westborough, MA, USA
Follow Rodney: Bluesky
Julissa tries to help her half brother when a friend’s indiscretion threatens his academic career.
“Half-Butler” by Michael Barbato-Dunn
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Follow Michael: Website
With the sudden passing of his beloved employer, an autonomic house servant struggles to find next of kin, and to find his new place in the world.
Eleventh Challenge Winning Stories - October 2025
Tenth Challenge Winning Stories - May 2025
Ninth Challenge Winning Stories - November 2024
Eighth Challenge Winning Stories - May 2024
Seventh Challenge Winning Stories - January 2024
Sixth Challenge Winning Stories - May 2023
Fifth Challenge Winning Stories - December 2022
One-Year Anniversary Challenge Winning Stories - July 2022
Third Challenge Winning Stories - March 2022
Classic Short Stories
“Sonny’s Blues” - by James Baldwin (1957)
“The Yellow Wallpaper” - by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
“The Storm” - by Kate Chopin (1898)
“Babylon Revisited” - by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1931)
“The Cask of Amontillado” - by Edgar Allen Poe (1846)
The websites linked above are not affiliated with Writers' Playground, LLC. We thank them for sharing these beautiful classic tales.