PROVERSE HONG KONG
JANUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER
PO Box 259, Tung Chung Post Office, Tung Chung,Lantau Island, NT, Hong Kong SAR
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To Win Or Not to Win: That Is The Question
It's a good question. There is no doubt that people like to win prizes. Something for nothing or something for something. The result is the same, whether it is an Olympic gold medal or the three-legged race on Sports Day. I don't know about you, but I have (so far) only won two prizes, both of them when I was still at school. The first prize was a 78rpm gramophone record (remember those acetate discs?). I no longer know why I won it, but I remember being given a choice. I could either have a recording of the Benny Goodman band's version of "One O'Clock Jump," or Gracie Fields' rendering of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I chose Gracie, much to the disgust of my friends. After all, we prided ourselves on keeping clear of so-called popular music. Our second-hand musical world was inhabited by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Django Reinhardt and others of that ilk. Benny Goodman just about made it. And I had turned down Benny in favour of Gracie! A ludicrous decision, rather difficult to live down.
Which reminds me of the time that the Benny Goodman band came to Singapore on a U.S. Government-sponsored tour. Benny was a strict disciplinarian who had laid down a strict rule that no member of the band should touch a drop of alcoholic liquor until after each performance. An understanding man, theSingapore promoter was kind enough to remedy the matter by providing watered-down bourbon in thermos flasks. We do not know if Benny ever found out.
Of course this is all very, very old history. You might well have heard of Lady Gaga (is she still in vogue?), but I should not be at all surprised if you were more familiar with Nastasha Bedingfield, Adele, Rishi Rich, Lily Allen and even a re-constituted David Bowie. And who can blame you?
But going back to the prizes. My school awarded me the second prize just before I left. Again, I was given a choice. Ernest Hemingway's, "For Whom theBellTolls," or the latest "Thesaurus and Word Guide." I chose Hemingway, largely because the words, "For Whom theBellTolls," came from John Donne, surely one ofBritain's greatest poets. I was about to leave school to join the Navy and the other lines in Donne's Meditation VII stuck me as being very apt. "No man is an island, intire of itself." The Regulating Petty Officers were quick to point that out.
"Prize-awarding" is not a simple business ― much more complicated than the management of a "Lucky Dip" or (Hong Kong's favourite), a Raffle. First, the judges have to make a decision without fisticuffs and this decision should, preferably, be unanimous. Second, the Administrators and the Judges need to be sure of their ground, which is more than can be said of those who administered the 2011 US National Book Awards. Citing a miscommunication with the judges, the Foundation was obliged to apologise for including the wrong book in the short list, much to the disappointment of Lauren Myracle, an author who rose up but was cast down again. Not much of a miracle for Myracle.
I think that one of the rules in the business world is never to mention the name or names of rival organisations, except in special circumstances We have no hesitation in referring to The Man Asian Literary and the Man Booker Prize Competitions since both are supported by the Man Group (alternative investment management) and apply to published works. In contrast, the Proverse Prize is for unpublished novels, poems or short stories and, in addition to a monetary award, the winner is guaranteed publication by Proverse.
