Looking at the response, it has become blatantly obvious to me that none of y'all have entered any real writing contests. <shrug> Anonymous judges and rather anonymous organizers are pretty standard. I recently entered the Creative Loafing contest in which neither was revealed. Thus, the concept of anonymous judges doesn't bother me.
Laura, I applaud your ambition and enthusiasm in writing! But the experience of entering "real writing contests" is not a requirement for questioning these new awards, is it?
As KathyM points out, anonymous judges and organizers are just fine in professional contests, in which the contestants are *also* anonymous. This is not the case in FoLCdom, which is a small pool of enthusiasts sharing a common love for a wonderful show. The Merriweathers won't be professional, or even semi-professional -- they'll be an amateur labor of love. (And speaking from experience, may I say how much time and luck I wish the committee, and my appreciation of how much time they've already spent?)
Katrinalee answered some questions regarding avoidance of author bias, and added:
Even if they recognize the story they are to judge the story according to the scoresheet, not how they feel about the author.
Well, speaking for my own experiences as a FoLC reader...
I have a much greater retention of older stories than I do of newer ones. I have only a vague memory of fics archived in the last three years or so, but I remember the older stories in much more detail! It doesn't help much to see that "they are to judge the story according to the scoresheet" rather than how they feel about the author, because -- well, just because someone's *supposed* to do something doesn't always mean it's possible to do so!
I can understand the desire to keep the specific judges of a specific category anonymous, but I wonder if the Merriweather Committee would be willing to reveal the list of *all* the judges -- that is, to let curious FoLCs know exactly who is part of the Merriweather Awards project, without knowing exactly who is looking at which story of which month's category.
LauraBF indicates (I won't quote, because it's snippets from here and there in her post) that now that she's on her way towards getting published, she doesn't think amateur contests and awards are that important. I admit I'm approaching it from the opposite direction
because I had something like two dozen books or articles published before I even *heard* of LnC. The closest I've ever come to something like what Laura describes was an anthology composed entirely of anecdotes/short stories, written by women who submitted their entires to the publisher for that specific work. I think I was paid something like $75 for my article, plus a free copy of the book -- it was nearly fifteen years ago, so I don't remember all the details. :rolleyes:
But *this* professional author thinks the Kerths are wonderful -- and, by extension, the Merriweathers, if the wrinkles and questions get ironed out and the awards prove a success. I'm a part of FoLCdom because I enjoy the company -- and the opportunity to write (and read!) without mentally linking the keyboard to my grocery bill. So, if the Kerths (and Merriweathers) are a way of expressing my appreciation for this delightful fandom, why not go for it?
Yes, it's true that these amateur awards and competitions are "not that important in the long run" -- but if so much time and effort is being devoted to them, why in the world shouldn't they be done right?
CC commented:
I really cringe at the idea of there being a kind of 'formula' for good storytelling. To me, that carries the potential to suck the creativity right out of writing and to smother the unique voice.
I don't think the formula is for storytelling, CC, as much as it is for structure. e.e. cummings aside, good writing does require structure: good use of dialogue, of paragraphing, of spelling and grammar, of setting the mood and representing the characters. But the best formulaic writing in the world will be boring as tears without the unique creativity that we all enjoy from our wonderful authors.
One last point: Tank wondered:
Well, obviously the Merriweather people think we do.
As long as there's no insinuations or deprecations regarding Kerths vs. Merriweathers -- and despite Paul's anxieties, I'm optimistic enough to hope that this isn't the case -- why not? After all, we all want to support and encourage our authors... especially if it means we'll get more fics!
Hazel, apologizing for the megillah
