"show, don't tell" is the first thing anyone learns in creative writing.

unfortunately, i'm pretty sure that most of the entries to the challenge were drenched in unnecessary descriptions, mired in trivial addendums, and filled with lengthy, overwrought, even grandiose paragraphs that spat in the face of literary tradition, as if to say, "I am lightning! I am a lion!"

these smallest of personal tragedies are as an unsightly blemish upon a darkened face - to the writer - but when the reader turns his eye to the page, as the sun appearing from behind a chiaroscuro of cloud, the face is disfigured! dismembered! murdered one thousand times, for every adverb casting a dark shadow over the rest of the page.

in this way, any moment of divine truth that affixes the mind with a sudden wonder, as a ray of sun on a single particle of dust, is gone. any beautiful, lyrical flow of words is gone. any resemblance of beauty in the face has now been struck - and now, as the reader turns his head, the church bell begins to toll, a baby cries, and all the world cries out, anguished, "THIS READS LIKE SHIT!"

Well, I'm glad you're "pretty sure", because evidently you didn't even need to read the entries to draw this conclusion. Given the size of WoW's audience, is it that hard to believe that there are actually some talented writers in there? Even, dare I say it, professional writers? There's a big difference between criticizing the classic mistakes of fanfic writers, and assuming that the winners made those same mistakes.

Here we have some extremely talented people that Blizzard has seen fit to recognize. WoW.com couldn't be bothered to report on this when the winners were first announced in a blue post, or even when they were announced on the main WoW page several days later. Then, they apparently couldn't be bothered to pay enough attention to the announcement to accurately find the winner's name. Is it too much to ask that, at the very least, the winners simply be congratulated without a backhanded slight?