ST. PETERSBURG, FL (July 25, 2002) — A short story about justice in the funeral parlor is the winner of Word Smitten's annual short-short story challenge.

Wendy Lestina, a Ferndale, California-based writer whose writing credits include the book 100 Things I’m Not Going To Do Now That I’m Over 50 (Putnam, 1995), wrote the winning entry "On the Other Hand." She won $150 and publication of her flash fiction in the Word Smitten literary e-zine, www.wordsmitten.com.

When Lestina found out she’d won the contest, "I went into the front yard and shrieked the news in English and Spanish to the housepainters. They said things like ‘bueno,’ and gave me a thumbs-up," she said.

Lestina worked as a magazine editor, public speaker, and director of the National Association for Female Executives before trying her hand at fiction for the past two years. She currently freelances for national magazines and writes a weekly column, "From the Back Pew," for her home newspaper.

"Wendy Lestina's entry stood apart because it incorporated three elements that we call the "H" factor: humor, humanity, and hubris," said Word Smitten’s on-line editor, and former newspaper columnist, Kate Sullivan.

An international literary e-zine, Word Smitten provides publishing industry news and interviews with acknowledged publishing experts. Each month Conference Reviews and Writers in the Cove^® include insider details about conferences for writers.

"We interview key people who provide us with candid observations that give our readers the kind of information they won’t find anywhere else," Sullivan said. Current articles include a Q-n-A session with Scott Manning, publicist for Black Hawk Down; a review of the Marymount Manhattan Writer’s Conference; an interview with a Simon and Schuster editor, as well as tips on writing query letters by author Todd Pierce.

Word Smitten’s annual summer contest is the TenTen Fiction Competition, which offers a $1,010 prize for the best 1,010-word story. Online submissions to the contest were accepted through July 1. The winner of the summer will be announced in August.

For more information about the Word Smitten literary contests or the site itself, contact: Word Smitten^®, P. O. Box 5067, St. Petersburg, FL 33737-5067. E-mail requests to: editor@wordsmitten.com or call (727) 409-0500 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

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