Re: Re: Garden Globe Awards question

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On Mon, 20 Jan 2003 17:06:45 +0000 Graham Rice <garden@tiscali.co.uk> writes:

 

>I've been looking at the comments from listmembers on the GWA >awards over the last couple of days and, as one of last year's judges >and this year's entrants, thought I'd make a few points.

 

I wasn't going to get involved in this, but, hey, it's a slow day.

 

I submitted for the Q&T twenty-some years ago. Once. Shortly after I lost I was at an event where I overheard two of the judges talking to one another, and both were kvetching about the appalling number of first person pieces that had been entered, about how they hated first person writing, how unprofessional it was. And I had a chance to read some of the winning entries, which I found as flat as a pancake in Paris.

 

I write in the first person. More than that. I write like a letter from your aunt, if your aunt drinks a lot. I never bothered to send anything for Q&T again. My readers and editors tell me whether I'm any good or not.

 

Frankly I don't see how the big paper/small paper problem applies to garden writing. The assumption seems to be that someone who writes for the NYT is a better writer and more knowledgeable gardener than one who writes for the Podunk Weekly, and I don't think I agree with that. In fact, I sometimes read the NYT, and I know I don't agree.

 

But if I were asked by the judging committee whether I had any self serving suggestions, I would mention one. I think that those who write a regular column should submit at least five or six examples from the prior year. Judging a serialized work, where the writer establishes and nurtures a relationship with his readers is quite different from a stand alone piece of writing.

 

But that's just my thought. And I know from long experience that nobody listens to me.