Contest: Short story

Well hello again. Just an update on what's been going on. I entered a short story contest. You send in a story between 8000-10000 and the companys let their readers download it for free. Then the readers vote on their fav. So I sent my story in Feb and the contest went for the month of March. So I got an email yesterday that I placed 3rd out of 36th. So I did not win the contract. Although third place is not bad. So even though I am dissapointed I will not give up. I will still send my stories out. Beside if Stephen King or Nora Roberts gave up, where would we be?