No sooner have I ignored the Orwell awards than I am invited to nominate myself for a Wincott award. Which invokes the same response - I’m not interested.
For one thing, the criteria for both awards is absurd. The Orwell asks for a sample of 10 pieces, the Wincott for five. For any active blogger, this is just 2-4% of one year’s content. Handing out awards on the basis of such a tiny sample would be like basing Oscars on one scene per movie, or Grammys on a single bar of music.
Which brings me to my bigger gripe. Why should I give a damn about the opinion of people who are prepared to make such absurd judgments? One of the main reasons I blog is precisely as a reaction against the empty suits who think their opinion matters. Anyone who’s read this blog for any time will have gotten bored of me pointing out that the “judgment” of people in authority - or who aspire to authority - is flawed. So why should I want an award from such folk?
Of course, there are some people whose opinion matters to me - those who pay my wages. But why should anyone else’s opinion matter - except insofar as they point out shortcomings of fact or theory in particular pieces I write?
The very existence of awards seems to be an albeit mild form of hierarchy - a division between people who judge and people who are judged. But there are more than enough hierarchies in the world, without us creating even more.
For one thing, the criteria for both awards is absurd. The Orwell asks for a sample of 10 pieces, the Wincott for five. For any active blogger, this is just 2-4% of one year’s content. Handing out awards on the basis of such a tiny sample would be like basing Oscars on one scene per movie, or Grammys on a single bar of music.
Which brings me to my bigger gripe. Why should I give a damn about the opinion of people who are prepared to make such absurd judgments? One of the main reasons I blog is precisely as a reaction against the empty suits who think their opinion matters. Anyone who’s read this blog for any time will have gotten bored of me pointing out that the “judgment” of people in authority - or who aspire to authority - is flawed. So why should I want an award from such folk?
Of course, there are some people whose opinion matters to me - those who pay my wages. But why should anyone else’s opinion matter - except insofar as they point out shortcomings of fact or theory in particular pieces I write?
The very existence of awards seems to be an albeit mild form of hierarchy - a division between people who judge and people who are judged. But there are more than enough hierarchies in the world, without us creating even more.
Amen
Posted by: Paul Sagar | February 09, 2010 at 03:35 PM
well ... I like to be patted on the head and told I'm a good boy from time to time. It's admirable that you feel no need for the approval other others, but it's rare in writers.
Posted by: Luis Enrique | February 09, 2010 at 04:19 PM
Well, there's no money for the blog award so pfffft to that. I did like this though:
"must be accompanied by five examples of the blog or website published during 2009. Entries should be in Word or pdf format"
Eh?
Posted by: Tim Worstall | February 09, 2010 at 05:04 PM
Tim,
If you use your mouse to scroll over some text whilst depressing the right hand button, the text will be highlighted. If you then press the "control" key at the same time as the "c" key, the text will be "copied" onto your computer's "clipboard".
If you then open Microsoft Word and press "control" and "v" simultaneously, the text you "copied" will be "pasted" into the Word document.
You can then save this document as it is, or convert it to Portable Document Format (PDF).
This can then be emailed to the competition organisers as part of an entry.
As the meerkat says: simples
Posted by: Paul Sagar | February 09, 2010 at 05:34 PM
Correction: you must depress the left-hand-button on your mouse.
Posted by: Paul Sagar | February 09, 2010 at 05:34 PM
"Correction: you must depress the left-hand-button on your mouse."
When I think about blog awards, depression is involved - but it's nothing to do with the mouse.
Posted by: chris c | February 09, 2010 at 07:15 PM
There is an exception to your point: when they choose the nominations for TV awards (in the US at least), actors are asked to provide the best example of their work i.e. choose an episode or two.
"Well, there's no money for the blog award so pfffft to that"
Guess who's the libertarian?
Posted by: Alex | February 10, 2010 at 12:03 AM
Alex,
Tim's standard reply at this stage is "actually, I'm a classical liberal".
Make of that what you will...
Posted by: Paul Sagar | February 10, 2010 at 12:53 AM
Ha ha, you're just afraid you'll lose!
Posted by: william | February 10, 2010 at 08:29 AM
When I win awards I get a payrise and can trade on them when I move job. But then again, I work in advertising.
Posted by: Morgan | February 10, 2010 at 01:05 PM
The counter-argument is that, in a world where ever more of our conception of value is framed in terms of money, awards like the Orwell prize (and, indeed, knighthoods and Nobel prizes etc) provide a rare opportunity for society (or society's representatives) to appreciate other conceptions of value.
Sure, the mechanics of these awards may not be perfect, but practicibility demands certain constraints and the effect of these award systems, imperfect as they are, in providing some ballance to our system of values is important and worth participating in.
Posted by: Tom | February 10, 2010 at 05:23 PM
"Ha ha, you're just afraid you'll lose!"
"Afraid", no.....but reasonably sure. Which is why to induce the effort to enter there needs to be at least the possibility of a pay off.....
Posted by: Tim Worstall | February 11, 2010 at 10:06 AM
Well, the things which matter to me is that someone pats on my shoulder. This is not less than an award for me.
Posted by: David Morson | February 16, 2010 at 09:30 AM
I tuned out of Facebook when the apps got obsessed with ranking. In fact, it was the day I had an email asking me to rank my friends. This sort of thing is inimitable to civilised relations.
Posted by: Bialik | February 17, 2010 at 12:30 AM