Cozy Chillout Challenge - Results!

Hello everyone!

  After taking some time to bring a bit of peace into my life, I’ve finally completed the judging for the Cozy Chillout Challenge! First and foremost, I want to thank all the participants. I was expecting quite a few entries, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for twenty participants! That alone has completely overwhelmed me—in the best way possible.   But as we hear on German television every year: "Es kann nur Eine geben." In the end, my goal was to select a winner. After a lot of consideration — of course, in the coziest atmosphere with tea and a comfy blanket — I was able to make my decision. But before we get to the winner, let’s take a moment to acknowledge six honorable mentions that made it into the final selection.  

Honorable Mentions

  First, I want to highlight the two participants who actually cooked something for the challenge! Lillianacaspaer’s White Chocolate Café and Valcin’s BBQ Steak Fries both made me really happy because it showed that I was able to inspire people to cook something themselves.     Additionally, there are four other entries that came very close to winning:

• Das Fremdenzimmer by Secere Laetes presents an incredibly interesting concept for providing a cozy space for interplanar guests.

• Strays & Stories by Make lore, not war is, simply put, a wonderfully cozy library. A perfect example of a warm and inviting fantasy setting.

• Bapycara Café by Mochimanoban was, due to very obvious reasons, a strong contender for the ultimate cozy spot.

• And finally, The Old Fort by Thereasonwhy—this entry just brought so many elements together beautifully. It feels mysterious yet inviting at the same time.

   

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for: the winner is… more than one participant?

  That’s right! I decided to choose two winners! Even after rereading all the entries multiple times, I have to be honest—the overall quality of submissions was just so high that not only do I want to highlight nearly half of the entries, but I also simply couldn’t choose between the two best ones.   First, we have Tyrdal with Aisha’s Delight. I have to admit, this entry immediately caught my attention because, in my DnD friend group, we have a running joke that every campaign must have a Baklava baker named Ayshe. I never said that I am an objective judge and I’m sorry for that. But aside from that personal connection, this article presents a wonderfully written and well-thought-out take on a cozy, Middle Eastern-inspired bakery. This is absolutely the kind of bakery where I’d get my breakfast every Sunday!  
  And then we have Leijona, who didn’t just submit an article but created an entire world with Camp Cozy! From the very beginning, I emphasized that quality was more important than the amount of effort put into the challenge. But the fact that this challenge inspired someone to build an entire world around the theme truly amazed me. It makes me incredibly happy to know that I was able to motivate people to create something this impressive.  
  In the end, all I can say is:

Thank you to all participants!

The two winners will receive their badges via private message to avoid messing up the formatting of this article.
This won’t be the last challenge I host—who knows, I might already have the next one in the works… stay tuned!