Behind the Win

Thank you to Sasha for the prompting. There are a lot of things that could be done to improve the platform that others far greater than I have already covered.

So.

In the interest of doing what Sasha requested, as she had lightly nudged me about it because I said a while ago that I would put something forward and had forgotten!

I know better than to do something contrary to what has been asked of me by a hot-blooded Italian woman. (Rest in peace, Nonna!)

Here goes!

1. Let Us See Behind the Judging

First, I would actually appreciate some sort of greater transparency about who the judges are who pick the winners in challenges.

I don't think it necessarily needs to be fully detailed profiles. There could simply be a small "About the Judges" section on each challenge, just so we know there is a team behind the judging process and have some idea of who they are and how many people are involved. There doesn't need to be a list of credentials or their life stories.

It could also be useful to have a basic idea of the process used to work through the entries. For example:

• How many people normally judge a challenge?

• Are entries judged independently before the judges compare their choices?

• Are the writers' identities visible to the judges?

• What broad criteria are used when deciding the winners?

I'm not suggesting that Vocal needs to reveal every detail of its judging process. Just enough information to make it clear that the entries are being assessed by actual humans and to give writers a better understanding of how that process works.

I think that would make the gap between writers and judges feel a little less like a huge chasm.

There is another benefit, too.

I've seen comments from people who lose challenges suggesting that there are cliques or that certain writers are favourites. I find that incredibly frustrating, not only because I don't believe it's true, but because it is unfair to the people who have worked hard for their placements, whether those placements are honourable mentions, runner-ups, or winners.

I know I'm very much in the camp of placing more often than I don't at this point (looks sheepishly but also proudly at my 52 achievements on my profile), but I also know that those placements didn't happen by accident.

I worked fucking hard and tried to execute my ideas to the highest level I could.

More transparency around judging wouldn't necessarily stop people from complaining, because people will always find something to complain about. But perhaps if writers had a better understanding of who is judging and how the process works, there would be less room for the suspicion that inevitably appears when people don't understand something.

And I think that would benefit everyone involved.

2. Show Us How the Winners Did It

Another idea I had — or perhaps two ideas that are really variations on the same one — is to spotlight winners, or people who have been particularly successful within certain communities.

Ruth, my wife, and I were discussing this.

It might just be me, but I've noticed that we get the announcements, everyone has their round of well dones and congratulations, and then we sort of move on to the next thing.

It might be nice to take a beat and recognise the winners, or perhaps even writers who have won in the past, and give those victories a little more life.

Vocal could occasionally interview a winner or ask them to write a piece discussing their writing history and experience on the platform.

But, for me, the most interesting part would be asking them why they approached a particular challenge prompt in the way they did.

• What did the prompt make them think of?

• Where did the initial idea come from?

• Did they know from the beginning what direction they wanted to take?

• Did the story or poem change substantially while they were writing it?

• What made them choose that particular approach rather than one of the many other possibilities?
  

The insights could be fascinating, but they could also be genuinely useful to other writers.

There are plenty of people who enter challenges wondering what it actually takes to produce something that catches a judge's attention. Rather than simply telling them that a particular story won, why not let the writer explain how they got there?

It could become something along the lines of a regular "Behind the Win" feature.

It would also give Vocal another piece of content to publish without requiring a completely new idea every time. The platform already has the challenge, the winning entries, and the writers. It would simply be giving those things a second life.

And, again, perhaps it would help dispel the idea that winning is simply about being part of the right clique or having a judge's favour.

More importantly, though, it would allow successful writers to share something that is often much more valuable than the fact that they won:

how they thought.

And I think that could be fascinating for the rest of us.

That's what I have right now.

If you haven't done so yet and want to add your own voice to the conversation, check out Sasha's post below: