SWS: The Second First Time Challenge Winners

Welcome back to the Summer Writing Series, and to our second fiction challenge winners announcement of the season.

For The Second First Time, we asked you to write about what it means to return. To revisit a moment, a place, or a feeling, and find that it’s changed. Or maybe it hasn’t, but you have. From second chances to strange reunions to quiet realizations, you delivered stories full of heart, humor, and surprise.

Here are the ones that stuck with us, in all the best ways.

🏆 Winners

The 6:17 to Somewhere New by Alain SUPPINI

Alain SUPPINI's piece carries an understated charm. Marc and Clara's reconnection isn't flashy, but it hits with the kind of tenderness that sneaks up on you. It’s subtle, sincere, and serves as a gentle reminder that even quiet moments can change everything.

Til Death by Elizabeth Kaye Daugherty

Elizabeth Kaye Daugherty's story walks a beautiful tightrope between longing and loss. It's lyrical, lush, and absolutely devastating in the best way. That final turn lingers, like something half-remembered and hard to shake.

My Brother's Keeper by Adam Clost

Adam Clost's take on a second chance through something as simple as a hug shows how small moments can hold so much weight. This one is tender, raw, and full of emotional gravity. It’s the kind of story that leaves you seeing your own rituals differently.

Oh Death by E. L. Stacy

E. L. Stacy's narrative unfolds like a haunting reflection. It’s eerie, thoughtful, and beautifully strange. The encounters with Death don’t just guide the journey, they give the story a pulse that lingers long after it ends.

The Desk Was Still There by Miss. Anonymous

The Desk Was Still There by Miss. Anonymous captures a quiet return to a space forever changed. The classroom feels both familiar and uncanny, layered with memory and loss. It’s a subtle, moving piece that leaves a lasting impression in the silence between lines.

🎖️ Runners-up

• Groundhog Day of Coffee and Tea by Cadma
• The Last Broadcast by Theo James Taylor
• The Double Hinged Door by Meredith Harmon
• Beneath the Hum of the Bees by Gina C.
• Leaving Limbo by Raistlin Allen
• Bailey's Back by Natalie Gray
• Another hit of you by Daniel K
• The Sun Set On That One by Deanna Cassidy
• Bride and Groom by Kay Knighting
• Seven Minutes in Heaven by K. C. Wexlar
• Where Were You? by Rosie Ford
• Aubergine by River and Celia in Underland
• Seven Years by Autumn S.
• The Prize Bull by Jennifer Christiansen
• Lost, again. by Bernard Bleske

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• When One Door Closes by D.K. Shepard
• Gerald’s Stars by Euan Brennan
• Deal's a Deal by Diana Frankhauser
• The charmed life of Starr 🌠 by Novel Allen
• I Never Liked Ghosts by The Dani Writer
• My Heart-Home Address Is - by Sarah O'Grady
• Parapraxis by Amelia
• The Second First Time by R.J. Winters
• Transdifferentiation by Paul Stewart
• The Strangeness by Taylor Rigsby

Check out the latest on Vocal Challenges.