[Enter Domino, stage left, into the spotlight, centre stage]
<clears throat amid cheering and applause>
<taps microphone and clears throat again>
<shuffles a sheaf of papers>

Laydeez and gem-men! Thank you all so very much for being with us here today.

My name is Domino, and I am your host for the evening's celebrations.

We have a colourful display for your entertainment, and a host of star writers to honour tonight.

When you honor people, you are of course giving a form of recognition to the people being honored. But, in a very real sense, it is the rest of us who have been honored by their participation in the Summer 2008 Short Story Competition here in ASSSville.

It is also true that honors and awards like these not only recognize individual excellence, although we surely do that tonight, but recognize the examples set by the authors being honored here, in the value we attach to the high quality and creativity necessary to produce the calibre of spanking stories that dedicated spankos require.

[Looks up at Royal Box]

Before proceeding any further I would like to extend the thanks of our community to our SSC Dictatrix par excellence :  Madame Winks!

Thank you for all the hard work you undertook to ensure that the SSC ran smoothly.  The Dictatrix's job can be a lonely and thankless one, and on an entirely personal level I have nothing but admiration for the way you handled this job.  I am enormously proud to be a part of your committee. 
<bows to the Royal Box>  Thank you Winks.

<pauses and waits for applause to die down>

In this awards ceremony, we celebrate our honorees. We celebrate the importance of literacy in erotica, particularly in our own genre of Spanking. But above all, we challenge all of ourselves to do everything we can to support that objective for the next generation of kinksters.

And perhaps more importantly we awaken a next generation of Asssvillians to asking what they can do for our little community. To awaken them to the ultimate satisfaction not in merely reading one-handedly the stories provided, but in being part of something larger than themselves, to the joy of making a real contribution in the form of More Stories that leave behind better, if somewhat more sore, behinds.

That's what the SSC is all about. Well - that and titillation, of course!

So!  Without further ado, I am delighted to present our first entertainment for the night
<drum roll> :  The Asssville Cheerleaders!!

[Domino moves stage right. Coloured lights illuminate the stage, and as the rousing strains of Souza's Liberty Bell March ring out, a troupe of cheerleaders emerge from the wings]

Twelve of the cutest young ladies ranging in height from around 5'8 to around 4'6.  Their dresses are pink and lilac and full of sparkles and glitter.  They commence their routine two neat lines tallest to the rear, waving ribbons in one hand and twirling canes in the other.

As they cavort around the stage, cute matching panties are revealed as skirts bounce around.  The girls re-arrange themselves elegantly into various formations, until the 8 largest girls are in a v-shape formation with the smallest girls lined up centre stage (like this :

Whilst the girls in the V are high-kicking, the littlest girls twirl, then turn their backs to the audience and bend over until they each are in a smart inverted-V position.

On cue, their coach, who has previously been lurking in the wings now strides onto the stage, and walks briskly across the stage landing a paddle stroke to each little upturned bottom.

AS the coach reaches the far end, the girls jump to their feet once more, and run nimbly to take their places at the rear of the V-shape, whilst the next four girls detach themselves from the front of the V to take up the positions the smallest girls have just vacated.

Once more the coach, smiling to the audience walks across the stage, this time dealing two strokes to each girl.  The audience, who have been cheering now quieten down and the pops and accompanying gasps can be clearly heard all the way through the auditorium.

As the coach finishes his round, the girls leapt up and neatly cart-wheel to their positions in the rear of the V-shape as everyone changes position.

The biggest girls step forward and also assume the inverted-V position, and in time to the marching song, the coach steps back to deliver three resounding spanks with his polished wooden paddle to the awaiting bottoms.

This time when they straighten out, the girls don't run to the rear of the stage.  Instead they twirl, they kick, and they unfasten their little skirts.  Moving in perfect synchronisation the girls throw their skirts to the side before turning their backs on the audience once again, to reveal that instead of panties they are wearing thongs.

One by one they neatly move onto their hands and knees, and brace themselves.  From the rear of the stage the next largest 4 girls move forward.  Their skirts are also discarded en route and as they clamber up onto the backs of their older friends in a somewhat unorthodox variant of the traditional pyramid, the audience can see their leotards are sparkly lilac.

Then the smallest girls take up their positions, three of them in a row, with the smallest girl on top of them at the apex of the pyramid.

The audience are cheering loudly as the coach moves back, this time with a cane in each hand, but again they quickly fall silent.

With the dexterity of an opera conductor and the speed of a heavy metal drummer, the Coach undertakes to perform his concerto. The fascinated eyes of the audience can barely follow, so rapid are his strokes.  Each girl yelps a little more frantically as Coach ensures all the cute bums in front of him get their fair share of the cane.

The spectators in the rows upfront can see the weals on the thonged bottoms of the lower row of girls, and as Coach and the music reach their crescendo, the audience bursts into spontaneous applause.

The Coach takes his bow as the girls break from the pyramid, and somewhat damp-eyed perform their triumphal march back into the wings.

Once again the lights dim.  Domino moves to the spotlight. Ladies and Gentlemen - The Assville Cheerleaders and Coach!

[Pause while the applause roars again then dies down]

And now - the results you have all been awaiting.  Just a reminder - the categories were as follows :

• 2,000 words
• 1,000 words
• Adult
• Child
• Coming of Age
• Best Collaboration
• Historical
• Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Edge fiction
• Parody/tribute (to include Fanfic)
• M/M or F/F
• Real Life
• First/last lines

I am happy to announce that the winner in all categories is <faux camp self-deprecating hand flourish> Me!!!

[pause for laughter to subside]  Thank you… and so :

All the submissions were reviewed by at least 4 different readers.  Some were reviewed by 5 readers.  In order to determine accurately which stories were the best, an average was taken of the scores and it is these figures which were used to determine the winners.

And the first prize, the Golden Cane, goes to Scott Darth who scored 8.875 for Spanking Day

<pause for applause>
Our next award is the Palm for 1,000 word Stories.

Again in Alphabetical order,  the submissions were :

And the winner of the coveted Golden Palm is Scriber with 8.875 points and After Work.

<again, pause for applause>
The Adult category is always a popular one and this year there were 18 contenders for the Martinet award :

The Silver Martinet – or maybe I should say Three Silver Martinets go to a triple way tie for three excellent authors who scored 8.5 each :

Abel with The Punishment Cell Alex Birch with The Wedding Gift and Bird with Lists

<raises hand to quieten applause and cheering>

The Silver Bare Bottom goes to Grace Brackenridge with 8.25 points for Second in Command

and in Joint First Place and the Golden Bare Bottom Award we have Alex Birch with Crossed Wires
and Grace Brackenridge with $5 Spanking and 8.5 points each.

<pause for applause>

Our next category was Best Collaboration and the Leather Paddle Award.  This proved not to be a popular category, with only two submissions, so

in second place for the Silver Leather Paddle we have The Chesterfield by Mija and Pablo with 7.125 points

and the Golden Leather Paddle goes to Herbie & Meg with 8.125 for The Butcher's Daughter.

The Historical category for the Wooden Spoon Award was also not as well subscribed as we would have wished, with 3 entries.

The Bronze Wooden Spoon goes to Stephen Richard with 6.425 points for Switching at Cass

The Silver Wooden Spoon goes to the Crimson Kid   for The Confessional with 6.875 points

and the Golden Wooden Spoon for 7.5 points goes to David Lena and Trainer.

Again in the Science Fiction/Fantasy for the Fibreglass Cane award we had four entries but all have won prizes!

The Bronze is awarded to Zadigski's' Old Schoolhouse  

and Be Brave Little Cadet by Stephen E Richards who both scored 6.75!

Zad also takes the Silver fibreglass cane for Spanked UFO Alien for which he got 7.875 points.

First place and the Golden Fibreglass cane goes to David Lena with 8.25 points for In Loco Parentis.

<pause for applause> <clears throat>

Moving on!  We now come to the Edge fiction and the Signal Whip Award. In alphabetical order we have :

Another two brief Categories – First and Last lines seemed less popular this year, so
The Silver Ruler Award goes to Mary with 7 points for It Was A Pleasure to Burn
whilst the Golder Ruler goes to Zprymantis and Escape for 7.625 points.

The Real Life Category was surprisingly undersubscribed,with the Silver School Paddle going to
Kate James with 6.125 points for Before the Interview
and the Golden School Paddle going to Zadigski with 7 points for Getting Hooked on Ness

And, the Bronze Tawse for 6.2 points goes to Jen and After the Game

The Silver Tawse goes to Y Lee Coyote with 6.375 and Back to School Time.

The Golden Tawse goes to Zoey with 7 points for Timely Differences .

The Bronze Jockey Bat goes to Wayward Maiden with 7.8 points for I Feel Tiny

The Silver Jockey Bat award goes to John Marks with 8 points for John Henry

• In Loco Parentis Science Fiction/ Fantasy David Lena
  
• Second in Command Coming of Age Grace Brackenridge
  
• Castle Anthrax Parody/Tribute Zadigski

• The Punishment Cell Adult Abel
• Crossed Wires Coming of Age Alex Birch
  
• The Wedding Gift Adult Alex Birch
  
• Lists Adult Bird
• Discovering Ice 1000 Words Domino
• $5 Spanking Coming of Age Grace Brackenridge
  

• What Now? Adult  Bird
• Spanking Day 2000 Words  ScottDarth
  
• After Work 1000 Words  Scriber

The Bronze Burning Birch goes to :          Alex Birch with 8.1 point

The Silver Burning Birch goes to Bird with 8.458

And Ladies and Gentlemen, it is not only my honour, but it gives me great pleasure to announce that the Glorious award of the Golden Order of the Burning Birch goes to the author who with 8.875 points has proved himself to be the outstanding author of the ASSville Summer Short Story Competition – Please put your hands together for the Author of the Year - I give you :  Scriber!

[waits for applause to die down]

The awards are all done now, but before we disperse I would like to remind all of us here present that perhaps  the truest winners are the ones who have been privileged to read the wonderful stories presented to us.

I would like once more to thank all participants, all our readers, namely

• Alex Birch:  alexbirch (at) blueyonder (dot) co (dot) uk
• CK:  CrimsnKid6 (at) aol (dot) com
• Grace Brackenridge:  gracebracken98 (at) yahoo (dot) com
  
• Jess:  peaceluvnbooks (at) clovermail (dot) net
• Kris Worsci:  worsci (at) webtv(dot) net
• Mary:  gemcollector2001 (at) yahoo (dot) com
• Sir Hal:  janhaltn (at) bellsouth (dot) net
• Steven:  js (at) smilingwithteeth (dot) com
• Zad:  zadigskiz (at) yahoo (dot) com
  

whose thankless task it has  been to read through all the stories and score them, our great Dictatrix Winks who masterminded the whole shebang
<with a grand gesture, Domino signals to a small person who crosses the stage to hand a bouquet of floggers to Winks>

And finally but certainly not least, our indomitable back-room girl Z who almost single- handedly juggled the technical web stuff, slaving away unremittingly at the old computer face, succoured only by flat food and frequent spankings – please let us have three cheers for Zoey!

Ladies and gentlemen, spankers and spankees, naughty girls, boys, Daddies, Mummies, Tops, Bottoms on whatever other flavour of our kink you enjoy, thank you for being here tonight, for participating in the SSC 08 whether by authoring, reviewing, reading and enjoying, it is now time to draw the curtain on this year's competition, and I wish you all a very good night, filled with very good spankings.