Making Light :: Communicator awards, and other coincidences :: comments

Communicator awards, and other coincidences

Those who managed to hack their way through my Fourth of July rant may recall my puzzlement that on the...

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #1 from Christopher Hatton

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 18:53:32 -0500

If entries are "judged against a high standard of excellence rather than against each other," then it is not, by definition, a competition. They're just plain blatantly lying, and anyone who gets one of these is either a pure scam artist hirself, or can't fucking read.

Either way, must to avoid.

]]>

Posted July 16, 2002 6:53 PM by Christopher Hatton

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #2 from James Macdonald

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 19:31:05 -0500

If you want to see Cris claiming that she has a "Pulitzer nomination," you can look at http://members.tripod.com/~TheWriter/resume.htm

That's an outstandingly ugly page, too.

]]>

Posted July 16, 2002 7:31 PM by James Macdonald

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #3 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 20:20:44 -0500

Chris, even though they're not a competition, I can imagine that if they were being judged by experts, and judged against a sufficiently rigorous standard of excellence, the awards might mean something. But these aren't, and they don't.

Jim, thanks for the link. I've incorporated it into my post.

]]>

Posted July 16, 2002 8:20 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #4 from Christopher Hatton

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 22:18:39 -0500

Ter, of course, of course. My point was that they contradict themselves right on the page there...claiming that it's a competition, but oops, not competitive.

I agree completely that a real juried rating system might be worth something.

]]>

Posted July 16, 2002 10:18 PM by Christopher Hatton

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #5 from Jim Meadows

Fri, 19 Jul 2002 00:00:15 -0500

Okay, maybe I shouldn't be admitting this sort of thing to the whole planet, but I believe I was the winner of one of the Communicator Awards a few years ago in the '90s.

It may not have been the same outfit, since I entered a statewide, not national competition. But it was called the Communicator Awards, and I won something. I went to a banquet in Bloomington Illinois, where I ate rubber chicken (my expense) and a local TV anchorman handed out the awards. I received a plaque, not one of the clear plastic jobs shown on the website.

I was working at a public radio station in Peoria at the time, and entered in the journalism category. But I don't believe there were many entries in that field. The competition was mostly aimed at small-scale, often in-house public relations work ---- something that wasn't clear when I entered, but was very obvious at the banquet.

As for the competition-but-not-competitive bit, I believe I won a 2nd place award in my category. But I don't remember the judges awarding a First Place award. Perhaps that's an example of what they meant.

I didn't participate in the Communicator in subsequent years, saving my efforts for Genuine Broadcast Journalism awards run by the Associated Press (state) and Public Radio News Directors Inc. (national). All my awards so far have been second place --- no clear plastic yet. But I do think they outweigh the Communicator Awards.

]]>

Posted July 19, 2002 12:00 AM by Jim Meadows

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #6 from Bob Webber

Sat, 20 Jul 2002 15:04:31 -0500

Jim, I think if the Communicator Awards of Arlington, Texas gave you a banquet, it would amount to having your picture taken in front of a painted backdrop of a hotel room, sitting at a plate from the front window of a Japanese restaurant: plastic model food, not rubber chicken.

Congratulations on your achievements, really. Even coming in second in a real competition is the opposite of shabby.

]]>

Posted July 20, 2002 3:04 PM by Bob Webber

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #7 from anonymous

Mon, 02 Sep 2002 19:27:24 -0500

I signed my name as "anonymous" not to hide my identity, but my embarrassment. I have been a client of the Cris Robins Agency for four years...in that time, I have written 6 novels, and twelve original screenplays. I finally woke up here in the last few months when I told Cris I had a new screenplay I wanted to send her...the best, I believe, I've written. She said not to send it because she was still going through the six scripts I had sent her, the same ones I had sent her in the month of September, 2001. (What kind of agent tells you not to send them your new material?) Anyway, to continue, I was sent an email a week ago telling me my contract was about to expire and if I wished I may re-sign with her agency. (What agent gives you the ball and tells you it's your call on whether to re-sign or not?) In other words, she was leaving it up to me. Strange? I'd say so. Look, I'm just a working class guy who likes to write...junky stories...it's a hobby...I have a real job...but four years ago I thought, what the hell, maybe I should see if anyone else would like to read my junk. Cris did...but since then I believe, in four years time, I've received three phone calls from her...panicked through her announcements she was sending my scripts to various film companies: Miramax, HBO, etc....getting mine and my family's hopes up only to be shot down. A little piece of advice? If you write screenplays...or novels for that matter, and don't have an agent...just try to do it yourself. If you are a script writer, [The rest of this recommendation has been deleted for my own complex yet dull professional reasons. It's not that I have specific objections. I just don't think it's proper to have the recommendation on my site--especially when it's by an anonymous poster. If you want to find out what it originally said, write to arcadia95@cowboy.net and ask. -tnh] That's what I did...sold my blood at the blood bank here in town and exchanged my blood money for a money order. If I'm going to continue as a failure, I'd just as soon fail on my own. Thanks for letting me tell my tale.

]]>

Posted September 2, 2002 7:27 PM by anonymous

Communicator awards, and other coincidences -- comment #8 from P.W. Fenton

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 09:01:33 -0500

I just received one of these brochures this morning and decided to look into it. Someone named "Mark Allen" is listed as the Administrative contact for this business. He is also listed as the owner of Imagin.net, an Internet Service Provider located at the very same Arlington, Texas address. I suspect there are many more business operating out of that same office. This is just one of many predators that prey on the hopes and dreams of aspiring "artists".

]]>

Posted October 13, 2003 9:01 AM by P.W. Fenton