What if I announced a competition?
A writing competition, with £1000 prize?
Interested?
Then what if I told you there were certain people that were not allowed to enter the competition? Based on their colour, ethnicity, gender, some people would not be allowed to enter this competition.
That doesn’t sound like a good competition, does it? It excludes people because of things they cannot choose.
That’s exactly what The Guardian is doing.
But this competition is OK because it shows a distinct bias towards ethnic minorities – is it OK?
The prize is open to all black, Asian, minority ethnic writers aged 18 or over who are living in the UK or Ireland.
Rather than putting a bandaid over a broken leg, we should be doing something about this issue – education first and foremost. Ethnic minorities should have the same educational opportunities as everyone else living in England.
Yeah, it’s easy to say that, isn’t it? Not so easy to get the job done.
Kitty Lymperopoulou Still Disadvantaged
Ethnic Minorities and Education
Even when the news is relatively ‘good’, it’s not as good as it could be or should be. Ethnic Minority Students excelling
If I said “Hey, I’m a minority, I’m Ginger, which is 2% of the world’s population. I want, deserve, demand a special competition for Gingers so I have a chance of winning!” I’d sound like a spoiled, self-entitled brat – and rightly so, that’s exactly what I would be!
Why is there a need for competitions such as The Guardian’s exclusive writing competition?
One of the replies on my Twitter was this:
…it's because white agents send white books to white publishers & dismiss BAME writers' works as "too ethnic" to appeal to a wider audience, thus not lucrative. Absolutely think if agent/editor/publisher had to judge without seeing the author or their name, this would change.
Yes! It probably would, so let’s address THIS point, rather than giving something to placate the minorities.
And…
There is more than enough for us. Let them have their share.
Here’s where I leap in, both feet planted firmly in my mouth…
‘More than enough for ‘us’, let ‘them’ have their share.’
Does that sound a little like:
‘Aww, the poor darlings, they’re never going to win anything, let’s set up a competition and weight it so heavily in their favour, one of them will be able to say they won a writing competition and they’ll all be happy.’
That’s what we need to stop! The belief that ‘they’ will be happy with that £1000 prize once a year – It’s NOT enough and it’s not in the right direction.
So, the writing competition will be open to Gingers only, born in 1964 (in December) and open only to those who own a 2000 model Ducati Monster 900 and a 2016 Mustang convertible. And I will be checking out your eligibility!
I tell you what… fuck that shit, I don’t need to win a writing competition that much.
I’ve entered two ‘official’ competitions for writing in my career.
The Orange Prize For Fiction in 2012 – there was no way my horror story featuring werewolves and Jack The Ripper was ever going to win, but the ‘prize’ for me was entering that prestigious competition (and knowing the judges read my work).
A little ‘flash fiction’ competition run by a small, independent writing organization.
I won neither of the first prizes – I don’t even think I got mentioned or listed.
The ONE competition I objected to being excluded from was an East Midlands-based competition and I was excluded because I self-published.
The organisers claimed to be promoting writing and writers in the East Midlands, but turned up their noses at someone who self-published. I told them I don’t self-publish, but by that time, I decided I wanted nothing to do with people who looked down their noses at writers that do self-publish.
Exclusion is not the way to go. We have to change the way publishers work – but how do we do that when the basis for publishing a novel is how much money it’s going to earn for the company?
We’ve not won the lottery this week, so I’m afraid I can’t afford to set up a publishing company to rival the Big Six, but if anyone wants to sponsor me to have a go, I’m willing to listen.