First of all, I have just realized I have been remiss. Congrats to Jenni and Mere and Paul! And congratulations on your award, Laura, as well, although I suggest you delay your excitement until you actually have your scores in hand and see that you've really won. I am less than impressed with M-Comm's batting average.
Lynn and Kaylle, while I appreciate your desire to defend my feelings, I assure you that I'm not hurt or disappointed by this. It sometimes pays to find out if a defense is needed before defending.
I will say, however, that if you're really interested in pursuing a writing career, Laura, you might want to avoid ascribing unsavory motives to others. It tends to leave a bad taste in the reader's mouth.
No, I am not offended at losing something that wasn't mine in the first place. I am, however, close to disgusted at M-Comm's behavior.
The question regarding the score for "Sunrise, Sunset" would not have arisen if I hadn't brought it up myself. Five or six hours before posting the story on both mbs, I e-mailed Katrina, explained that "Allyse" was really Hazel, and mentioned the discrepancy in the scores -- that Allyse's score was lower than my other fic, and that both were lower than Lynn's. (I'd added up wrong, as some of you pointed out, but the point -- that Allyse's score was lower than two others -- was still valid.) I also gave some very courteous suggestions for improvements of the rather jerky Merriweather process for the future.
That was early Thursday morning my time -- late Wednesday night in the States. Since then, Katrina has not bothered to acknowledge my e-mail in any way. I had to visit the boards this morning to discover that I was no longer the winner of the Honorable Mention, and that it had been given to someone else.
"It has come to the attention of the Merriweather Committee"? Why not say, "Hazel has told us"? Because that would require that you acknowledge my existence?
Why should I mind losing the honorable mention when it wasn't mine? What I *do* mind is the appalling lack of courtesy here and the absence of all integrity. If Katrina discovered an error of this magnitude, does she and M-Comm really think that a blithe joke about the error being "buried on page 53 between the obits and the auction notices" is sufficient? I'm not troubled by the loss of the award, but another person in this position might be. Why didn't M-Comm apologize to the person that was wronged by their own lack of professionalism?
So far, the M-Comm has announced winners without bothering to update their own website, sent out scorecards without troubling to tell authors that the rules for scoring had changed, failed to keep up a reasonable correspondence with the entrants, and announced a new winner, after the original winner had to tell them of their error, without having the decency to inform the former winner in private beforehand. Or at all, really. As far as M-Comm is concerned, I don't actually know about it, do I?
Ordinarily, I would never air such a grievance in public. But since Katrina and M-Comm apparently don't believe in private correspondence, I don't seem to have much choice.
We are red-faced over the mistake but will take our lumps like adults.
"Adults" tend to act with courtesy. I have failed to see any.
The Merriweather page no longer includes the snide reference to the Kerths, but it does still state this:
Our mission statement: "Truth and justice sound like good things to stand for."
Perhaps M-Comm should consult a dictionary for future reference.
Hazel
