I will start this blog topic by say that I have NEVER coordinated an unpublished contest, but I have co-coordinated a published contest when I belonged to my local RWA Chapter, Romance Writers Ink. There are some aspects of the contests that can be handled in a similar fashion, but other aspects of the contest—the fact that you have books to distribute to judges (whether handed out or mailed)—that must be handled differently. I must say that the two women who initiated me in the coordinating aspect of contests were the best: Susan Shay and Marilyn Pappano—Credit where credit’s due.
I have been a judge in NUMEROUS contests by many different RWA chapters. Some were run well, others could use some tweaking.
After a couple of years away from entering contests, due to concentrating on my middle grade writing, I decided to enter DEMON in a few contests.
Thus the reason for this blog, it’s a minor gritch-fest about a contest I entered with a deadline of August 15:
• The finalists were notified 10/5 and they had a week to tweak their entries. I have a friend who finaled –YAY, Cyndi!!
• After they turned in their tweaked entries 10/12, the list of finalists was officially announced
• I waited to receive my non-finaling entry
• After one week post the announcement, I sent the coordinator an email. She responded that she was getting around to it.
WHAT???
Okay, here’s my beef:
1) The scores have all been tallied to identify the finalists, which means ALL the entries have been judged and returned to the coordinator.
SO—why aren’t they ready to be sent back to the entrants??
2) If I had someone enquire about her entry—I would get my shit together and send that person their scored entries. Yeah, it can be a pain in the ass, but you would have made this entrant a happy camper and she wouldn’t be writing about you or your contest! But this coordinator didn’t do that, which makes me wonder about screw-ups in her system (lost entries, miscalculated scores, etc)
I realize not everyone is as anal and Virgoean as I am, but to be competent as a contest coordinator, I think efficiency should be part of the job description.
And if this coordinator is doing the ENTIRE contest on her own, she needs to learn to delegate responsibilities to others. One person doesn’t run a contest—a chapter runs the contest and though it can be run by one person—IT CAN’T BE RUN WELL. Like anything else, it takes a village to pull it off with ease.
Why?
Because it is all about consumer satisfaction.
Who is the client?
The contest entrant, who is forking over $30 bucks to get feedback or her entry in front of a specific final judge, be it agent or editor, is your client.
When you fail to return the entries in a timely fashion, who gets pissed?
The client. Then they complain online about the contest, complain to their chapter mates, or to anyone who will listen. AND they won’t enter your contest again, which ultimately results in lost revenue for the chapter. Oh, it might not matter the first or second year, but if a contest is run in this manner then the contest will get a bad rap, and yes, it will start to affect the overall # of entries, which in turn will decrease the chapter’s revenue.
• Oh, and on an aside, NEVER EVER CHANGE THE RULES DURING THE CONTEST. This happened to one of my entries years ago. I should have gotten a discrepancy judging because the point difference was 28 and the contest stated in the rules a discrepancy judging would happen if there was a difference of 25 points. I complained to the coordinator AND SHE HAD THE GALL TO CHANGE IT ON THE WEBSITE TO REFLECT HER ‘NEW’ JUDGING LIMITS OF 30 POINTS. I had a hard copy proving my point, but it didn’t seem to change her mind. This was a direct hit below the belt, and yes, I badmouthed that contest to my RWI sisters and refused to enter that contest again. And mentally told that coordinator to EAT SHIT AND DIE! This happened around eight years ago and I’m still hot about it. And yes, I emailed the president of the chapter—she did nothing. The nasty woman was even coordinator the next year.
Just don’t change anything while a contest is in progress. If you screwed up with the instructions, man up and take freakin’ responsibility for it. All I wanted was one more read. I knew it wouldn’t final, but the nasty woman wouldn’t even give me that.
Many contests now have three judges score an entry, but only calculate two scores—built in discrepancy. But make sure the entrant sees all the judged entries as the low scoring judge might have the most beneficial comments to the entrant. Do NOT assume you know better or you want to keep from hurting their feelings. Shit gets flung on you in this biz—get freakin’ used to it. Hell, ask any NYT bestseller about the trolls who don’t read their books, but post negative comments on Amazon. Shit happens—get used to it.
So the question becomes how do you make everyone happy?
COMMUNICATION
1) When you post the list of finalists, you should return the contest entries to the non-finalists within a day or two.
I can hear the whining now. “But, I work outside the house, plus write, I don’t have time.” Wah, wah, wah. Quit being such a baby.
If you can’t find the time to do a good job, then don’t volunteer.
Coordinating a contest or simply judging a contest is a huge time commitment. But if you do a little every day then it isn’t as overwhelming.
When I judge a contest, most coordinators will inform you when to expect your judging packet. I document this on a calendar in advance and plan my writing around it. If you discover that you will be on vacation, having surgery, a deadline or whatever at that time—contact your coordinator ASAP, so she can find another judge.
Common courtesy, it’s all about the domino effect, baby!
Suggestions for a smooth-running contest will be posted on Friday!
Write on!
Margaret, I feel for you. The only time I've been entering contests the last couple years is when the final judge is an editor for a house I'm interested in. Otherwise, it's not worth it. About 2/3 of the feedback is crap. (I just judged entries in a contest, lol.)
ReplyDeleteBut it's disheartening when the person in charge is unprofessional. I don't blame you for being pissed.
I not mad about it, Edie, I'm disappointed. With electronic contest entries, the ability to keep up on the job is easy--it just takes a little organization.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need to design a template for chapters to use. :-)
Margaret, been there the same as you. It's difficult to go through the contest circuit and see the problems that happen when most of it could be easily solved with decent planning and disorganization.
ReplyDeleteDale
First, thanks!!
ReplyDeleteCoordinating a contest IS a huge commitment, and everything you do right -- or wrong -- reflects back on your chapter. RWI's committees bend over backwards to keep our entrants happy, and for the most part it seems to work, since our numbers have gone up every year.
But I've judged some contests where it was apparent the coordinator was in need of help. And I've had a few coordinators send me an email along with my entries to judge asking for advice on how to handle something. I love people who ask for help!
But changing the rules mid-contest . . . that just stinks. I can't believe the prez didn't follow up with you!
You continue to confirm my decision to self-publish and never have anything to do with the whole writing industry debacle!
ReplyDeleteLike I mentioned to Edie, Dale, I find it very frustrating. I know if I was running the contest, I would have had every entrant lined up and ready for me to press 'send' the second the announcement went out.
ReplyDeleteOne of the keys to running a great contest is to have a stable of people who willingly help out at the eleventh hour--you are that person, Marilyn! You always find time to give back, which is remarkable considering all your other commitments.
ReplyDeleteAnd the rule changing organization was based in Albuquerque--that's all I'm going to say, since I think my 'eat shit and die' comment told the story. :-)
You have to weigh the good with the bad, Jods. Think of all the wonderful people you've met that you wouldn't have met otherwise. And, contest-wise, there are tons of well-run contests--this just happened to be one that got my goat!
ReplyDeleteYIKES. But I do get it.
ReplyDeletehere's my story...
One of the first (if not the first) contest I entered..I NEVER got scores back. I was SUCH a newbie, I'm not sure I ever saw the finalist list, so I kept wondering about my scores. I happened to be at the conference the chapter held at that time. I found the coordinator to ask. She had NO IDEA. Later that evening, she handed me three scores written on a napkin. Two scores in the 90's and one in the 50's but NO DISCREPANCY judge. There were 3 finalists. I was #4. I was PISSED as the winner was someone from their chapter. Yes, I was suspicious. Still am.
Lots of complaints about chapter contests. I've never coordinated one (my local chapter decided there were enough contests in the world without us killing ourselves to have one) BUT my Florida chapter does have one. Last year, I stayed with the contest coordinator during the time we were finalizing scores and notifying the finalists. She worked her a$$ off. The contest was run like a time clock, and the participants love the contest. Still considered one of the best because of response times.
It is discouraging when someone is so unprofessional. Can't wait to see what you have to say tomorrow.
AND Thanks for the shout-out. I did get my revised entry for the final judge. Fingers crossed.
Cyndi: JMO here,Re: 2-90 something scores and 1-50 something score, if you had three scores, then you had a built in discrepency judge. MOST of the time, the lowest score is dropped, which would have been your 50ish one.
ReplyDeleteBut the lack of response and the way your scores were presented was deplorable.
I don't know how other coordinators usually handle old contests, but--I hate to say it--I'm sure I still have old RWI results and spreadsheets on a flashdrive.
And that was YEARS ago. I don't clean them off--I just add to the info. And if they screwed up and you should have finaled then they needed to man up and beg the editor judge to look at one more entry. I KNOW Karin when she was president of her chapter, and I KNOW Marilyn has done that for RWI.
Again, It's all about customer satisfaction.
Margaret, I have come to the conclusion that contests are for people who are looking for feedback on a new story. Some people who enter the same story time and time again are wasting a lot of money IMO. I have judged a lot of contests and try my best to be positive, but it's still just my opinion. I never read any of the Harry Potter books because they are not my taste. What does it mean if I don't like your story - absolutely nothing!!.
ReplyDeleteSo basically, what an author gets for their $30 is three opinions of unpublished writers (most of the time) who are looking for answers just like they are.
I wish I had a dollar for all the contests I entered. My scores were always like Cyndi's - two really good ones and a bad one from someone who absolutely hated my voice. Not surprising, I never finaled in any contest.
Contests have their place - for initial feedback, but when you're submitting the same stuff over and over, you might as well flush that money down the commode. You end up with too many different opinions and are no better than when you started.
I've read your writing. I know you're close. Why do you need contests to tell you what I just did for free?
Ah, Liz, I entered this particular contest because I wanted to get my work in front of an editor in a 'closed' publishing house. I had also entered two other contests for the same reason. I KNEW I would have to get past the 'gatekeeper' judges to succeed in that goal.
ReplyDeleteBut this blog wasn't about my entering the contest, instead it was how to run a smooth contest and ultimately pleasing the 'client', who is the contest entrant. The RWA chapter is running a contest to make money for their chapter, if they fail in their goal of providing a product in a timely fashion then they failed in that goal IMO.
If you want someone to keep entering your contest, the coordinator's goal should be to keep the customer happy--the attitude and lack of timeliness of her response was what generated this blog and Friday's blog.
I have no idea how well or how poorly I did in the contest, and it's a moot point, since I haven't gotten my scores back.
My argument is don't announce the finalists UNTIL all the results are ready to be sent to the non-finalists.
Friday's blog is my suggestions to streamline that process.
In the words of Emily Litella.................Nevermind!!!!
ReplyDeleteLOl
Get your act together,contest coordinators!!
And thanks for letting me vent, Margaret.
THANK YOU, MARGARET! Sweet words to a burned out contest coorditnator's ears.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more of your analism. It has to come in very handy. You've done a great job of putting it all down.
I think you should sell it (maybe with a few revisions and/or delitions--LOL) to RWR.
Great advice.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteAre you doing Nanowrimo this year?
Thanks, Susan, from one contest coordinator to another--we are (well, in my case, WAS)the unsung heros, working behind the scenes with barely any acknowlegement.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to get DEMON written, or partially written, before I entered the GH. If I fork over the money--I would have to definitly get my butt in gear to finish the story.
BEST of luck! (And that's said with my whole heart!!!)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan! Now I need to type my widdle fingers to the bone to finish the DAMN story!
ReplyDelete