2 Red Light/Green Light Contest: Announcing the Top 50 Submissions!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Below are the top 50 entries in our Red Light/Green Light contest, where writers are vying for the prizes of a gift certificate to One Stop for Writers AND a phone call with fabulous agent Kimberly Brower at RF Literary!

CONGRATS to all who made it in to our top 50, and good luck going forward! And for those who didn't make it in, remember that this is all subjective. If you're unsure about your opening, consider entering AYAP's First Five PagesWorkshop, which runs monthly, for some extra guidance!

And now, presenting:

THE TOP 50 ENTRIES

Author: Genre: Entry:	JR Creaden Young Adult SciFi Muffled sobs drummed into my awareness as my vision washed over with endless white.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Sheryl Stein Young Adult Contemporary I chugged the final drips of chocolate milk through the tiny, white straw and looked around the noisy school cafeteria, my eyes stabbing madly over faces and hairnets and trashcans all around the room.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Cheryl A. Montgomery Young Adult Contemporary I shut my eyes, bracing myself to collide, only to be jolted awake by the sound of my alarm.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Amanda Perry Young Adult Other They say the devil was once an angel, no one knew this to be true so well as Evelyn Wharton.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Stella Nadene Young Adult Contemporary Through the heavy blackness I somehow find peace for the two seconds it takes before the next burst of white light.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Ambiguous_A08 Young Adult Suspense Adam almost didn’t notice the message written on the back of the yield sign.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Christina Termini Young Adult Fantasy The fae queen squinted in the darkness.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Alex Higgins Young Adult Fantasy The bell atop the door chimes and brings in both cold air and a man with blood splattered across the front of his shirt.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Courtney Kiesecker Young Adult Fantasy The day Mykella Esperanza was born the sun slowly descended over the mountains, like an old woman closing her eyes.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Patricia Nesbitt Middle Grade Historical Last year, when I was nine, things were a good sight better.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Maureen O'Leary Young Adult Contemporary On the final night of summer vacation it didn’t matter what kind of fun I was having.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Valerie Bodden Young Adult Contemporary I bury my face deeper in the sticky-sweet grass and try to tune out the shrieks and splashes coming from the pool on the other side of the yard.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Michelle Collins Young Adult Fantasy Bearing the collective memory of an entire village is a burden meant only for a person of great strength and power.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Sarah Coupens and Heather Bakkela Young Adult Contemporary Don’t get caught.
Author: Genre: Entry:	A.J. Flowers Young Adult Fantasy Azrael gazed down at the child who was so perfect, so serene, she could have been an angel… if she’d still been alive.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Mary Hallberg Young Adult Paranormal As Penny walked inside the funeral home doors, the cold air stung her skin.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Ash Holland Young Adult Dystopian So far, there are no signs of danger.
Author: Genre: Entry:	J.A. Ward Young Adult Contemporary Three months ago I watched a stranger die, so I know what death looks like.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Ellen Plotkin Mulholland Young Adult Contemporary As if I need any further evidence we don't swim in the same gene pool, my brother bounds down the stairs.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Yettee Girard Young Adult Adventure Magnolia probed the valley for a sign of her father.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Maggie Hasbrouck Young Adult Contemporary My mother and every other woman who lives on Muriel Avenue gets paid to have sex, that’s just how it is.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Rebecca J. Allen Middle Grade Adventure I stomped off the bus, weighed down by soul-crushing news and the long school day ahead of me.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Marisa Urgo Young Adult Contemporary The house was a monster.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Jeri Baird Middle Grade Magical Realism The day the preacher called me cursed, I knew my life had changed.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Christine Grabowski Young Adult SciFi There was no way to know the trajectory of my life was about to change.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Jamie M. Selgen Young Adult Paranormal I tried to scream but my mouth refused to cooperate.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Christy C Young Adult SciFi The gun clicks and I smile.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Devyn B. Makin New Adult Thriller My breaths grow short as I press my finger over the bent corner of my diary, making my nail bed turn a ghostly white.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Juli Caveny Middle Grade Historical Even if Father Joe himself stared me down through the slim slats of the confessional and flat-out asked me if I liked him, I’d be honest.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Gabrielle Saunders Young Adult Fantasy Kasia Hillman crouched in the shadows of the alleyway outside Brown Horse Inn.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Morgan Hazelwood Young Adult Fantasy I forgot to be careful.
Author: Genre: Entry:	John Berkowitz and Melissa Berkowitz Middle Grade Fantasy An ogre.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Olga Middle Grade Contemporary Antonio glanced at the carved wooden box in his mom's room and opened it quickly.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Annie Oakes Middle Grade Contemporary My cool black duffel bag shot out of the plastic curtain onto the baggage carousel and slowly circled towards me.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Nova Lee Zaiden Young Adult Paranormal The shock returns in the middle of the night.
Author: Genre: Entry:	KPKnupp Young Adult Paranormal Have you ever glimpsed something out of the corner of your eye just to whip your head around and have it disappear?
Author: Genre: Entry:	Meredith Gallo Young Adult Fantasy The sunshine glinted off the metal of my steak knife as I dug it into the poster of the bed.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Christina Fritts Young Adult Fantasy The moment air hits the bottom of my lungs I know that it’s coming.
Author: Genre: Entry:	E. Symes-Smith Young Adult Fantasy "Try again," Dakin begs, holding the moon out to his little brother.
Author: Genre: Entry:	lilywithtwobees Young Adult Fantasy The last picture in Hannah’s mind of her family, in the days when it was whole and healthy and altogether *normal*, was the afternoon they left for Mazaska Park.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Francina Simone Young Adult Paranormal "I’m almost done," Katie snapped.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Becky Young Adult Suspense My best friend had just saved the world, again.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Megan Snyder Young Adult Fantasy Somehow she lived for almost 23 years without hearing of it.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Jamie Adams Young Adult Paranormal They arrived like thieves, in the dead of night, traveling along the edge of a silence as sharp as a knife.
Author: Genre: Entry:	LVP Young Adult Fantasy As heir to the throne, or Hierisa, private training was my favorite moment of the day, the few hours when I got to let off some steam, when I was allowed to be myself.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Amira Middle Grade Fantasy Gaia’s lifelong dream was about to come true, and waiting patiently was incredibly hard.
Author: Genre: Entry:	A Reading Red Sox Young Adult Contemporary The boy in front of me will most likely have to die.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Jeni Lynne Young Adult Fantasy Phaedra's mother used to tell her a story about the magic hills.
Author: Genre: Entry:	Dana Nuenighoff Young Adult Fantasy No one witnessed tears stained my ocean-weathered face.
Author: Genre: Entry:	LA Knight Young Adult Fantasy How many more wars can the Fae survive?
Be sure to check back next Thursday, when we post our agent judge's top 25 entries from this great pool of talent!