capecod-shoe

1. Although we might not approve of every use to which their new owners have put our ex-insignificant objects [that's the Cape Cod Shoe, above], we encourage them to send us photos of the objects in their new contexts. Or post them to this Flickr group pool. (Worth checking out if you haven’t — some great stuff there.)

2. We’re on track to announce the winner of the Significant Objects fiction contest hosted by Slate.com today. As previously announced, there were over 600 entrants, so it took us longer than expected to read all the stories, select 12 favorites, then settle on one those favorites as our winner. We’ll also announce the 11 runners-up today. Also today the winning story will be published on Slate.com and here on this website. And at long last the BBQ Sauce Jar — now officially one of our most significant-ized objects — will be put up for auction on eBay.

3. Although we’ll publish our 100th story in just a couple of weeks, thus wrapping up Phase 1 of the Significant Objects experiment (there may be more phases; we’re discussing options now — post any ideas you have to the comments section of this post!), we’ve decided to squeeze in one more FICTION CONTEST before Phase 1 is over. The Slate.com contest was so successful, and so much fun for the judges, that we’ve approached another top-notch online magazine that has agreed to host a new one. That’s right: two of the 100 stories in our experiment will be written by fiction contest winners. We’ll announce details of that contest soon. Stay tuned!