Lynn, honey, looks to me as if they already have. And it was only democratic in the organization committee. They've given us a new, lovely set of awards that work like a *real* judged contest. All the griping and screaming that you don't like their methods probably won't make a difference.
<shrug> It's a self-entering contest. If you don't like it, don't submit stories. It's as easy and simple as that. Ignore it if you don't like it. That's what I tend to do with the Kerths, because I think that *they're* unfair and I don't trust them further than I can throw them. (Since my opinion on them is well known, I feel free to express it.)
I send off stories to various contests and never know who the judges will be. There *is* a certain level of trust involved, but until *proven* (at least in my mind) untrustworthy, I'll go ahead and give it a try. Again, it's just a CONTEST and it doesn't really MATTER.
To me, it looks like they're going to provide some lovely constructive criticism. The challenge of entering the contest is can you handle it? I know several poor writers (not all in fandoms--remember, LNC is one of four that I'm in as well as classes) who freak out at the slightest word that their stories aren't perfect. (Usually said writers can't string together a grammatically correct sentence, let alone write a cohearent story.) If you want slavish praise, this obviously isn't a contest for you. But if, like me, you want to learn how to become a better writer, it looks like a good thing to enter.
Laura
