With lofty expectations, especially with my very first entry, I mailed off my fictional account of some real life event I'd experienced that someone or perhaps even more than one person expressed such an appreciation of said event and my telling of the aforementioned, that I was sure I would soon be hefting some placard or at least a check for first prize, for my brilliancy.
Alas poor Yoric- my dream was dashed, my brilliancy tarnished, and my righteous indignation incited as I read the winning entry- WTF!
Whom could possibly have chosen this, over my humorously educational accounting of my life-changing rendition that I so precisely peppered with keystrokes that were obviously inspired by the divine!!!
Has anyone, like me, ever thought some writing contests are rigged?
It's interesting you should say that. Some people hate the very idea of contests, as if the producers are really just trying to get away with avoiding the payment of royalties, by declaring most of the playwrights 'non-winners' but offering to present their play as 'compensation.' Some years ago, I entered a contest put on by a theatre company in New York City. My plays were accepted each time I entered, but the $10 million question was.... who was going to win the prize money? As it turns out, the head of the festival was also one of the directors, Each year that she produced the festival, by some miracle, the play that she was directing happened to be the play who won the first place honors. Once might have been a coincidence....but three years in a row? That is stretching the bounds of credulity!