The FARATS Winners!

The winners of the First Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown are:

Rat Trap Press' "Charlie Brown" tree, with 117 (read back in the FARATS saga for the whole story) votes:

PaddyAnne's "Empress", with 26 votes:

But you likely knew those would win a prize. The big question today is who is the wild-card, randomly selected winner of the mighty maple prize? I arrived at that answer by putting all other entrants (excluding myself) on slips of paper:

I then dropped them in this cup:
 

After covering the cup and shaking vigorously, I asked a co-worker to draw a slip of paper from the cup. Here is the slip they drew:




 
Congratulations you 3! Send a note to rantwick at gmale dawt cawm with your maple syrup shipping address and I will get to work. Thanks again to all who participated and to all who read these never ending posts about the contest. The good news is that it is finally over. The bad news is that I may have to think of something else, perhaps even something interesting, to write about now.

R A N T W I C K

Last Day to Vote on FARATS Entries!

After what seems like a lifetime, time is almost up for voting on your favourite FARATS tree. Thanks very much to all who participated; I will be back tomorrow to announce the winners, including the wild card randomly selected one! I can't hardly wait!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

FARATS Fixer Found! Feeble Foliage Freak Forgiven.

My mystery visitor left an anonymous comment confirming that they had loaded the votes for RTP's Charlie Brown tree. For those of you who may not remember that entry, here it is:

Here is what Anonymous had to say in answer to my query as to whether they had voted many many times for this tree:

"I did and i feel bad. i just liked the little tree.sorry i wont do it anymore if you want to start over."

The feeble foliage on RTP's small tree was bound to evoke feelings like this in somebody. I thought from the start that it might win thanks to its "Charlie Brown" qualities. How can I not forgive somebody who feels remorse and "just really liked the little tree"? Didn't we all? Don't feel too bad mystery visitor, because I've got a decent solution that does not involve starting over.

For submitting an entry that moved somebody to vote like crazy, RTP will receive one of the prizes. The entry that receives the next highest number of votes will receive the same prize, as will one more entrant selected at random. This bumps the prize count from 2 to 3, but when you start with really small and cheap prizes, it's not so bad.

the prize: 100 mL (3.4 fl. oz.) of pure joy joy tree juice

I admonish anyone reading this or interested in this contest not to engage in any more crazy voting - one vote per reader, please!

Oh, yeah, Happy New Year! Can I do that now, or am I guilty of premature congratulation?

R A N T W I C K