Favorite entry was probably Heavensbane: I love that specific surreal feeling that old, sacred texts emanate, and the piece really nails that feeling fairly well without being explicit about it (Well, the world 'angel' is used a lot, but still). It's just, such an amazing piece that hides its true meaning behind a strong veil, but still shows enough to keep you invested in a story that you can feel is personal to someone, to something, but not reader; not you. You're watching a scene through a window, and knowing this, the story doesn't pull any punches when it comes to just 'going for it' and delivering an excellent story.
I feel like I said absolutely nothing about the piece itself, which was in part the point. Go read it. It's great.
Now, onto underread/underrated entries… Let's see…
To Salt the Earth with Tears of Jesus is not exactly underread, but def underrated: It hits very similar vibes to Heavensbane, but it's much more grounded: Less ethereal, more concrete, and not any less impactful because of it. It's a really good read, and on a personal note, very similar in execution to my own entry, which also makes me appreciate it more.
Hazy Elegies From the West Ward Window, 1969 is a fucking monster of an entry, and it should be way, way higher. Please go read it. It's so intimate in such an interesting way, and it's a gorgeous piece from an historical standpoint too. It's just so, so good.
I loved For You, The World also: It's so odd. It has these Backrooms-esque vibes that I wasn't expecting when delving into, and it's also composed of two semi-separated sides that slowly converge into one, but in a very unique way. It almost feels like one narrative trend devours the other, and… I dunno, it's just so interesting, to see that happen.
Finally, I'll highlight A Thankful Signal to the Maker which combines a past of folk and mysticism, and a future of uniformity and lack of meaning really well to land into a pretty strong piece about religious faith and what it means. It also has a pretty good worldbuilding for the relative shortness of the article itself.
That being said, I wish I had the time and energy to highlight pretty much every entry: They were all so good. This contest was amazing~