587 were submitted by local authors and 279 were submitted by non-city authors, but among the 36 contestants who won the final award, only 2 from outside the city won the Excellence Award, and the rest of the awards were shared by local authors.
Recently, the results of the 40th Guyu Poetry Conference held in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province have sparked controversy. Public opinion generally questioned that the winners of a wide range of submissions from inside and outside the city turned out to be locals, making the competition "self-entertainment" and suspected of "self-directed and self-acting".
Under public opinion, the organizer Yichun Federation of Literary and Art Circles responded that it would hire an expert group from outside Yichun City to form a review committee to review the preliminary evaluation results and announce them in a timely manner.
There is no wind and no waves, and people's skepticism is not unreasonable. Although there were more than twice as many local entries as those from outside the city, the results were clearly unbalanced. Of course, local authors have a greater advantage in creation, but such a disproportionate proportion of awards is indeed doubtful.
According to relevant reports, many of the winners are officials of the local cultural system, and some winners even said in interviews that they "did not participate in the selection", and the organizers deleted the list of winners after the fermentation of public opinion, which undoubtedly added a touch of intriguing meaning to the selection.
In terms of scale, the Yichun Poetry Festival is not a "large-scale event", but the competition is no matter how big or small, regardless of the scale, adhering to "fairness and justice" is the most basic bottom line.
The competition is "black whistle", and the ranking is "determined"...... This kind of farce is nothing new. In 2019, a "I have the final say" secretary became "popular" because the ranking of the Yenching Institute of Technology Campus Song Contest was suspected of being "internalized" by the leadership. When the students questioned, the school leader blurted out a domineering response of "the first two, I said he is the one".
Source: Beijing Daily
If you take a closer look, you will find that whether it is a sports event, a variety show, or an e-sports competition, there are often "internal determination" scandals: "spending money to buy rankings", "whoever sponsors will win the award", "let the leader get the award first"...... There are so many shady tricks in such a game that it is difficult to guard against.
The competition is to allow players from all walks of life to compete on the same stage. The competition is about technology and strength, not who has more backstage, who is more able to go through the back door, and who has more financial resources. If even the most basic fairness cannot be guaranteed in a competition, it will not only chill the hearts of all the contestants, but also greatly damage the credibility and reputation of the competition itself.
Is it meaningful to be reduced to a formality in this way?
To put an end to the endless chaos of the game, we must first have a fair and transparent competition system. If all aspects of the Yichun Federation of Literary and Art Circles follow strict norms, be open and transparent, and let everyone have a well-documented record, why would they be questioned by public opinion today? If all the competitions can let the audience see the selection criteria and selection process, then the fairness of the competition will naturally be self-evident. If the selection is fair and the works are excellent, it is not difficult to imagine that the competition will get better and better, gather more and more popularity, and excellent works will become more and more benchmarks in the industry!
The public is bright, and the bias is dark. Deeper into the opaque system is the unbridled power and lack of oversight. The "tentacles" of power have extended to various competitions, selections, and competitive activities, destroying the foundation of fairness and destroying people's confidence in a society governed by the rule of law and a fair society.
Putting power in a cage requires stronger oversight mechanisms. If the eyes of the overseer are not sharp, there will be a gap in power. Whether it is selection or competition, supervision should be placed in an important position in the formulation of competition rules and run through the overall situation, so as to ensure the realization of fairness, retain the reputation and be convincing.