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Thread: Writing Contest- The judges speak...
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Re.TiReD

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:salamext:

Yup, this thread is for the judges to let you know what they're looking for in a story. I've received 3 entries so far, but we have a little more than a month left so it'd be wise to make some improvements here and there based on what the mods are going to be taking into consideration whilst judging. [Phew long sentence] :-[

The judges will be going with the checklist below btw:

Judging literature is one of the most difficult of tasks. Each person has strong personal bias as to what constitutes good or bad literature. The fairest way is for the organizer of a literary contest to write a standard score sheet to be used by each judge.

The organizer of a literary contest needs to establish the criteria by which it is to be judged and than establish a score sheet to be used by all the judges and try to have a judging panel free from personal bias.

A suggested generic scoring sheet:


Rate each on a scale of one to 10. One being the lowest mark 10 being the highest.

1. Grammar

2. ease of reading

3. Understandability

4. Author's knowledge of the subject

5. Ease of understanding the work

6. Judges personal like of the work
Click to expand...


The way in which stories are marked for coursework is that a mark is given out of 15 for the content of the story, i.e the plot, characters and the build up etc etc, and a mark out of 5 for grammar, so spelling, punctuation etc etc, and a total mark out of 20.

I think that each judge should give a mark, say out of 20 for each story, then we can work out a total, and that should insha'Allah give a clear winner.
Click to expand...

Or something like that Insha'Allah.

Now I leave this thread for the judges input, feel free to ask any questions

WassalamuAlaykum
 
imagine you write one AMAZING story, but someone else beats you cause their grammer is slightly better.

that would be terrible ffended:
 
Mz said:
imagine you write one AMAZING story, but someone else beats you cause their grammer is slightly better.

that would be terrible ffended:
Click to expand...

Grammer is important to a degree. But mods are also looking for something that grips them, something they read and makes em go...'WoW'... and summin that gives em an Imaan rush....wallahu A'lam just gotta wait for em to respond insha'Allah

WassalamuAlaykum
 
:sl:

As a judge shade, I agree with sis JolieFleur, although Grammar is important, the actual content of the story is far more important, and that is where the 'big marks' will come in. This is more so, since we have lots of members from non-english speaking countries.

:w:
 
Abdul Baari said:
:sl:

As a Judge :shade:, I agree with sis^, although Grammar is important, the actual content of the story is far more important, and that is where the 'big marks' will come in. This is more so, since we have lots of members from non-english speaking countries.

:w:
Click to expand...

:wasalamex

JazakAllah khayr for that akhee :thumbs_up
 
you dont have to worry too much about grammer when you use microsoft word
 
Greetings,

Thanks for the thread.


Rate each on a scale of one to 10. One being the lowest mark 10 being the highest.

1. Grammar

2. ease of reading

3. Understandability

4. Author's knowledge of the subject

5. Ease of understanding the work

6. Judges personal like of the work
Click to expand...

I don't think that is a particularly effective scoring chart. 2, 3 and 5 mean essentially the same thing.

What I look for in a story is something that interests or surprises me. Whichever one I enjoy most will get my vote. That really is the best way to assess a creative piece of writing.

A good story will be an effective use of the imagination, and that is the most important factor for judges to consider.

A question that some people may ask themselves is: "What if I've got a good story in front of me, but the spelling and grammar are terrible?"

It is possible to write a compelling story with bad spelling and grammar as long as it is still comprehensible to the reader. If the story manages to keep you reading despite the mistakes, then it's clearly a good story, and deserves high marks. If the grammar disrupts the meaning so much that it becomes impossible to read, then clearly it's not very good.

A few questions about the competition:

Do we want this to be like the Booker prize, where a panel of judges assess works and then discuss down to one winner, or are we all expected to give scoresheets and work it out mathematically? Or is there perhaps another gameplan?

Even though I'm a teacher, I'd rather we didn't get all National Curriculum about it, if you see what I mean. I need a break from mark schemes!

Peace
 
czgibson said:
Do we want this to be like the Booker prize, where a panel of judges assess works and then discuss down to one winner
Click to expand...

I've been all for the above suggestion since I began formulating the plan in my mind. Since then the idea of a marking criteria came up and I liked that also. So ultimately I think you should go with your above suggestion. The marks you give will help you make a decision and feed your thoughts back to the panel.

We'll also have a thread here in which members will be discussing the pieces and what they think of them. That will be mainly to aid the judges. Hope that helps
 
CZGibson, im glad your one of the judges !

Im very interested to see how you grade stories which are suppose to centre around islaam, this will be doubly interesting now
 
Greetings,
Mz said:
CZGibson, im glad your one of the judges !

Im very interested to see how you grade stories which are suppose to centre around islaam, this will be doubly interesting now
Click to expand...

I'll judge them on a purely subjective basis. Whichever story I think is the most entertaining and well-written will get my vote to be the winner!

By the way, when should I start expecting to receive stories? I think I've seen at least one person saying their story is finished (I may have got that wrong, though).

Peace
 
You'll receive the stories on the new forum Insha'Allah (members don't know about that btw but you know what I mean right?) If you'd like to ask any questions about judging please do so there

But for now, that'll be after the 1st December. Or on that day.
 
Mz said:
imagine you write one AMAZING story, but someone else beats you cause their grammer is slightly better.

that would be terrible ffended:
Click to expand...

A story with bad grammar may not be an amazing story! (or, atleast not read very well)
 
Woohooo czgibson's a judge! Great to have an English teacher as a judge eh?