As someone who will be graduating with a degree in creative writing fiction in a few months and who will soon be a published writer, I understand their motivations.
I've been following this thread with great interest, but this really caught my attention.
Laura, good for you!! Congrats on being published! That is wonderful. Please do let us know when you are. I would so love to read another FOLC's book.
As for your understanding of writing contests due to your credentials, that makes perfect sense. So, I'll just speak for myself. I'm a literary moron. No classes, no contest experience to speak of. I'm assuming there are others in the same boat with me. For the rest of us, some more qualification would no doubt be appreciated.
For instance, I can totally understand anonymous judges in a Creative Loafing contest- that has a huge readership. But in our cozy fandom the chances that authors and judges will 'know' each other seem much greater. Therefore it might be a nice show of good intent for the Merriweather Committee to be a bit more open.
That's my two cents. One other thing, and I've mentioned this before but feel compelled to add because, well, it's a pet issue. 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.
CC
