The results - and a couple of extra prizes!

[zigzackly]

A quick note on the judging, first.

Once our judges were through with their ratings, we saw that there were a large number of ties in the top ten, most notably, a four-way tie at first place.
We had made no reference to tied places in the contest conditions. But all our calls for submission focused on the top prize being available to one winner, and

Comments

Complaint

[redpillpedlar]

Hi Peter/Manpreet,

I don't know why I didn't voice this earlier, and I don't know how many of the participants feel like I do, but the 'Special Jury Prize' irks me a little. I am not debating whether the story is good or not - because I know it's purely a matter of taste, so this is not an attack on Saikat. He got a prize, and congratulations to him.

But what I don't understand is how a competition could give a prize (ANY prize) to an entry that sidesteps a fundamental rule of the contest, which in this case is ignoring the theme. The reason you have given - that it is a very, very good story - is irrelevant. Even if it's the next literary masterpiece, it ought to have been eliminated on the grounds of ineligibility. A cursory honorary mention would have sufficed. Something along the lines of, "There have been a few entries that we really liked, but have been eliminated because they didn't stick to the theme."

By giving the story a prize, are you not being unfair to all the other competitors who went to the trouble of weaving the theme into their stories? Who knows? If all of us had written a story each that did NOT have to have a connection to the theme, we would probably have written stories that were 'better' than Saikat's. If you were going to give such an award away, the least you could have done was to announce it beforehand so that all of us had an equal chance to grab at it. As it happened, Saikat's story was effectively competing with a handful few (if not just with itself) that you must have received that neglected the theme.

Now if all the entrants that are not part of the winning list feel they've wasted their time sticking to the theme while they could have written much better stories (and could have even been awarded!) if they'd simply not bothered, can you blame them for thinking so?

And more importantly, how far will this go?
For instance, if you ask for an essay on terrorism, and I give you a beautifully-written essay on a cow, will you give it a special prize just because you liked it?
Pushing it a bit further, if I submit a brilliant poem to a short fiction contest, will it stand a chance of getting an award on the grounds that it was the 'best poem' of the lot?
You see my point, surely.

This is a little confusing. If a story is ineligible, it is ineligible, no matter how much you like it, and no matter how good it is. If you feel bad about it, apologise to the participant, explain to him the reasons, and move on. But a special award?

Don't get me wrong. Ultimately, it is YOUR competition, and you have complete authority to give away as many special awards as you want, but giving one to an ineligible entry, I thought, was pushing it a bit. I am not suggesting you should take back the award from Saikat (for that would be a little harsh on him), and I don't know how many of the people here share my views on this, but I thought I should voice my displeasure all the same.

There, I am done :-)

Sharath

Re: Complaint

[snapshots3]

I do share Sharath's view on the issue of the special prize.

It comes across as an emotional decision- and human beings have been known to be that way!!

cheers
kc