Re: International Thriller Writers Association

**"* L* <t*@earthlink.net>**

GWL: I was not going to enter this thread until I received that the attached email. Back in the late 1980s the GWAA really celebrated with great tours, great lectures, and wonderful evenings spent in places like the Conservatory at the Bronx Botanical Garden. It was there that Elvin McDonald, wearing kilts and playing a bagpipe,  led a march around the banquet tables (festooned with among other things pomegranates), and the lights twinkled and a great time was had by all. 
    The GWAA awards were very serious deals. (I won for a "Feature in a Magazine" in 1981; for "First Prize in Book Illustration" in 1984; and for The Wild Gardener (still my publisher, Stackpole Books), in 1992.)
    In 1988 I became the editor of the Quill & Trowel, drawing an new logo and changing the name from "Newsletter of the Garden Writers Association of America" to Quill & Trowel (the May/June issue of 1989 was the name change). Back then I was responsible for modernizing the newsletter and opening up new columns about feedback from writers about jobs, photography, ideas, etc.
    Then in 1991 a small group of Chicago writers decided that the GWAA was too exclusive to every really expand, especially with the declines in education (apparent way back then) and the already beginning of newspapers who decided it was cheaper to use extension agents rather then real writers. 
    And so it began.
    When the GWAA hired LaGasse who immediately wanted the newsletter's budget to add to the gross accountings of the organization. I was asked to sign a loyalty oath, which I refused, and to take out insurance to protect against possible lawsuits arising from the newsletter. 
    At the same time it was decided to "dumb the GWAA down" in order to pull in more paying members, including folks who did not earn a large percentage of their living from writing about gardens. Maybe somebody out there remembers the exact percentage of income had to be derived from being a professional writer, but it was a sizeable amount.
    Naturally, being a free-thinking Liberal, I resigned.
    Regards, Peter 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Campbell" <dcamp@chilitech.net>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum" <gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [GWL] International Thriller Writers Association


> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rich Pomerantz" <rich@richpomerantz.com>
> 
>> Also, I don't understand the comment about winners buying the awards. No 
>> one paid me or my fellow judges anything to select the winners we chose 
>> when I judged, and I am quite sure none of the other judges receive any 
>> compensation for making the choices they did.  That's a slur that has no 
>> basis. Can we agree to not repeat it anymore, unless of course you have 
>> proof of the bribery you are alleging?
> 
> No, I certainly was not alleging bribery, nor do I think the judges are 
> anything but scrupulous. I'm sorry if my use of hyperbole was misunderstood.
> 
> I was referring to a change made several years ago. When I first joined in 
> the early 1980s, Quill and Trowel involved a nominal entrance fee -- 25 
> bucks I think -- and the awards themselves were pretty exclusive. Then they 
> tripled the fee (if I recall correctly) and greatly expanded the number of 
> awards. It didn't affect me, because I had stopped submitting for Quill and 
> Trowel before that (though I have my fair share of other awards), but it 
> seemed to me that GWAA awards were being devalued like college grades and 
> military medals.
> 
> D 
> 
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