To,
The Hosts, My Pocket Story, Tell A Tale.com,
Madame,
It was nice of you to think of and organize the short story
writing contest, My Pocket Story. I participated in the contest and have
enjoyed the process. The conditions and the time slot made the contest
interesting. I congratulate Tell A Tale for putting this up.
While I enjoyed the process of writing for the contest I
have my reservations regarding certain aspects of the same. First, the
extension in timings announced when the time slot was about to end. It is a
letdown for those who stuck to the time limit and sent the stories on time.
Rules cannot be changed halfway through the game. If at all there was any compulsion,
the contest should have been scrapped and a new date, theme and set of words announced.
Now, about ‘promoting’ my story. According to the
instructions I am required to announce the link to the contest on all the
social network sites I subscribe to and request my friends to vote for my
story. More votes, more chances of winning. It is obvious that those who can
reach more friends through these sites get more votes, immaterial what is written. Now, what is the contest
about? Is it about the literary abilities of the writer and the quality of
writing or the ability to gather friends who can click ‘like’ on request?
In fact, the organizers should have prohibited writers from
canvassing for votes through their social networks. If reader feedback was
essential for judging the stories, the visitors to the website should have been
requested to go through the stories and rate them. What is being followed now
is the viewer vote system of TV channels the intention of which is to increase
viewership. I agree that we have to change with times, but not in contests like
this if what you are looking at is good literary abilities.
Well, that is what I feel. Sorry for questioning the hosts instead of
being busy garnering votes.
With regards
Raghunandan.
(I was very happy to note that my concern was addressed by the hosts immediately. their reply is also here).
(I was very happy to note that my concern was addressed by the hosts immediately. their reply is also here).
Thank you for your feedback.
Addressing the 2 issues that you have raised one by one:
1.
Changing the timelines mid-way - This was done to accommodate many
writers who had registered for the contest but who contacted us saying
they were unable to write within the stipulated time period since
Saturday was a working day for them. As organizers, we felt that it was
our duty to enable all registrants to participate. So instead of
questioning why they registered if they had to work, we extended the
deadline to include Sunday as well. Since multiple entries were allowed,
this would also give time to those who had already sent in their
entries to improvise (if they wanted to) or send in another entry. If
this caused any inconvenience to you, we sincerely apologize.
2. Promoting the story - Social voting has been
included as a fun round to get readers and writers involved in the
judging process. The social voting is in no way a screening round,
neither contributes a major share to the final score. We have a panel
comprising of judges drawn from different age groups and different
streams within writing and publishing who will be judging the entries.
You can go through their profiles on the website at this link: http://tell-a-tale.com/my-pocket-story-judges-write-up/.
Additionally, it is only readers on the website who can vote for
these entries. E.g. if you share this post on your Facebook wall, and
get a 100 likes for it, they will not add to your score. But if your
entry gets a 100 likes on the website, that adds to your score.
The final score will be a combined score, with judges' score carrying higher weightage.
I hope this addresses your concern.
Regards,
-Arunima
