I'd like to thank everyone who's posted their scores and comments here. It's been fascinating for me to read.
It would be more fascinating still if I knew the questions (the actual questions, as opposed to the samples on the Merriweather website) to which the judges were allocating scores,
not so I could pick the scores apart but so that I could have a better idea of what's being judged. I'm sure the questions are very good and probing and very useful, and that they'd help all of us as writers to learn more about the craft of writing.
Katrina, M-Com, if you're still reading this, this is why a lot of us would like to see the full question-sheets - not so that we can complain that you're asking the wrong questions, not so that we can appeal scores or anything like that. But so that we can learn from this exercise, an exercise you'll see that entrants have been describing as useful and a learning process.
Sure, there are scores and comments I would disagree with, just as there are scores and comments I'd agree wholeheartedly with. That's in the nature of this kind of judging exercise. I drew a comparison in another thread with the Booker Prize (for those who haven't heard of it, it's the most significant literature prize in the UK, awarded annually and televised). There are years when I've thought the winner was incredibly well-deserved. There are years when I've wondered what the judges were smoking.
Tastes in writing, and even answers to analytical questions like these, are always subjective, which is why several judges is a necessity.
I would agree with those who say that the judges appear to have taken their responsibilities seriously. Some have clearly taken care to offer good, constructive feedback; if one or two could have offered a bit more specificity in what they said, that's something they've no doubt learned from the exercise. It's always hard to know how much or how little to write the first time you mark written work - and I say that with sixteen years as an educator behind me.
If the glitches which have caused such concern in this first round can be worked out and M-Com can regain people's trust, I'll look forward to seeing future scoresheets posted here. Thank you, Lynn, Meredith, Hazel and Paul for being so generous and brave as to share your results with us.
Wendy
