Letter to a Contest Judge

by Marley Gibson

The following article first appeared in the August 2005 issue of "Imagination in Flight", newsletter for the New England Chapter RWA. Permission to use with credits.

"Dear Contest Judge:

I recently received my comments back from the (fill-in-the-blank) contest and felt I needed to comment on some of the things you brought out in your judging.

First of all, please don’t circle words you don’t know, like “infinitesimal” and then write the comment: “if that’s even a word.” Every good writer should have a dictionary close at hand in order to look up words they’re not familiar with.

Also, if you don’t like reading say...chick lit, then why in the world did you agree to judge the category? Then, you wouldn’t have to put statements like “is this what chick lit’s all about?” or “If this is an example of chick lit, I don’t understand why it’s selling so much.” That’s just mean and uncalled for.

Don’t tell me “if I were writing this story...” because anything after that is irrelevant. Judge my work, please and not how you’d write it. And you know what, don’t tell me to use a “less fancy words” then tell me to use “he died” instead of “demise.” I apparently choose the words in my writing for a reason and a purpose.

Oh, and you know, if you’re going to say to me, “you should read a good book on grammer [sic]” at least spell grammar correctly. Because of that, I will now look at the rest of your comments with a doubtful eye because you have lost credibility with me.

You can’t assume that just because a heroine has a glass of wine after she gets fired from her job that she’s “a blatant alcoholic who’s only using it as a coping mechanism and needs to come to terms with her addiction.” Hmmm...you get fired and then tell me what the first thing you’ll want to do is.

Please refrain from circling the phrase my character utters about when she attended “American University in Washington, DC” and write “which American university in DC?” If you don’t know there’s a university called American, that’s what Google is for, big homey.

I beg of you not to be so literal minded. Have a sense of humor. If I write that “it felt like three years passed between dinner and the dessert course,” please accept that I’m trying to be snarky and funny and not that it literally took that long. Honestly...loosen up!

You shouldn’t read my story about a Scottish hero and then tell me, “you know, English accents don’t sound like this.” Ummm...how can you hear either accents while you’re reading?

What idiot told you never to use “ing” words in a manuscript? That’s very interesting and entertaining. It must be that same person who said you can never use “had” either. To the point where you circle them all or put a delete mark through them all. Sometimes these words happen. Live with it.

Don’t tell me on page 3 of the entry not to use contractions, but then on page 15, you say I haven’t used enough. Which is it? Make up your mind.

Rethink the dissertation on how I should make the character of Jake the hero instead of a minor character in a story I’ve entitled “Jake’s Bride” (duh...what was your first clue?) It makes me think you didn’t even read my entry.

And you know what? I don’t care if you went on a Celebrity Cruise Line’s cruise in 1992 and think you know everything about the cruise line industry enough to correct me on how I wrote my story based on a cruise ship in 2005. Trust that I, as the author, did my research when I penned my manuscript. You aren’t an expert in everything. Please don’t show your ignorance on such statements as “she ran her fingers through his thick, black hair” and then ask, “is the hero African American?” or better yet, poo poo me and say “Harlequin doesn’t accept inter-racial couples.” Sure they do...and besides, this hero was white. What...he can’t have black hair?

Hey...if I write my story in first person present tense, please refrain from the desire to change every single one of my verbs to past tense. While you’re at it, don’t write “no editor is buying anything written in first person” because it just makes you look silly. Ever heard of Bridget Jones’s Diary or Linda Howard’s To Die For or Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books.

I beg of you not to bring your religion, politics or personal views of things to the table when you’re reading a contest entry. It’s just going to eventually offend someone...probably the person who paid $30 to enter the contest.

And speaking of that, don’t you dare ever leave an entry blank with not one comment on it. People are paying their hard-earned money to send in an entry for feedback. To not leave one mark or not even say “nice font” is an insult to the entrant and reflects poorly on you and the contest. If you’re going to take the time to judge, take the time to make it useful for the person entering.

Finally, I ask that you please just read the entry, enjoy it, look for spelling errors and character inconsistencies. Tell me if my goal, motivation and conflict is real and believable. Let me know if the entry left you wanting to read more. Or if I should ditch the first chapter and start the action in another place. Don’t bog both of us down in stupid things that don’t help the contest entrant get their money’s worth.

As always, thank you for your time and efforts.

Sincerely,

Contest Slut Extraordinaire"

Now...you might think this is a bit extreme, but I have to tell you...100% of these one liners are true and accurate and happened to people who were kind enough to share their stories with me. Many of them—sadly—happened to me over the years.

Contests are, for many chapters, the lifeblood of the chapter’s fiscal year. Many chapters rely on the positive comments and word of mouth that comes from contest entrants and how they perceive their contest. It’s what keeps people coming back year after year. It’s how we have such big contests as The Molly, The Emily, The Jasmine...just to name a few. But whenever an entrant comes away with useless, harsh, inaccurate information from a judge, it hurts everyone: the chapter, the contest, the contestant and the judge.

Sure, no one likes to hear negative things about their writing, but from the examples above, these comments are purely useless. There’s a difference between saying something is bad, wrong or not as you believe and saying something needs tweaking, polishing, re-working.

The bottom line and lesson to be learned here is that judging an RWA sponsored contest is not something we as members should take lightly. Another person is writing a check and sending their baby to you to have it critiqued, judged and commented on. We, as judges, owe them the absolute best work we can give them. We shouldn’t make stupid assumptions. We shouldn’t think we know everything there is to know. We shouldn’t condemn things characters do just because they don’t jive with what we do in or believe in our own lives. We shouldn’t show our ignorance with misspelled words and not taking the time to look up a word we don’t recognize. The world is full of interesting new words...learn something through the experience!

As a judge, you should never turn an entry back in without comments...and or that matter, no contest coordinator should accept a packet from a judge that doesn’t have comments on it. That is the number one comment I’ve gotten from contest entrants in my research for this story.

And, for all things that are good and holy, if you don’t read a certain genre, then for heaven’s sake, DON’T judge the category. I don’t read inspirational or fantasy, so I would have no right to judge either of those categories. Same thing goes for any other judge. Know your strengths. Know what genre you can give the best feedback in. Don’t just read a category because someone begged you to do it or all the other categories were taken. If you do read a new category, learn from it. Take something away and share that learning experience with the writer.

Judging is a terrific way of giving back to this wonderful organization and to pay it forward to the next generation of writers. I know...I put in almost eighty hours last year on five contests and innumerable entries. However, when you’re judging, make sure you’re giving it your all, not bringing your personal prejudices to the table or taking out a bad day on the packet of entries. Be a good contest judge. Be a memorable contest judge. Be that person they ask back year after year. Be that person who knows she’s helped a fellow writer make their manuscript better. Sadly, there are a lot of baaaaaaad judges out there that sully the work of all the good ones. Don’t be one of the bad ones. There’s always something good and encouraging you can say to an entrant. Make them happy they entered the contest. Make them want to enter it again.

So next time...leave those present tense verbs alone. Go look up “infinitesimal.” Accept that “ing” words happen. Just enjoy the story. Get lost in the writing. Be constructive, but never critical. Show your expertise, not your ignorance. And make the contest experience a rewarding one for everyone involved. It’ll make you feel great!

Marley Gibson has been writing for five years. While she’s entered too many contests to even count, she’s proud to have been a finalist in the 2002 Southern Heat, the 2005 Wisconsin Fabulous Five and she won first place in the 2004 Happy Endings and 2003 Sacramento Valley Rose for Website Excellence. She is an RWA PRO, member of the New England RWA chapter and Founder/Creator of Chick Lit Writers of the World online RWA chapter.

Back to Articles home page