Judging

Photo by Christina Farnsworth

The songwriting contest went well. I didn't win, but the audience really seemed to like the songs. I hope I'll get another chance to participate someday.

Well, mostly. When the winners were announced, I learned something terrifying: they always try to get past winners to judge the contests. I ran into one of the judges, Mitzi Cowell, later on, and she confirmed this. Having won last year, she felt obligated to fulfill the judging role. She talked about how hard it was to choose, how intently she had to listen to every word.

Oh yikes.

The thing about contests involving music is, it's impossible to be completely objective because songs don't have objective value. Different people like different things. I'm OK with this as a songwriting participant. But as a judge, I'd want to pick the "right" song based upon some kind of objective criteria, and I wouldn't be able to do it. The angst would just about kill me. It almost makes me not want to win.

Be judged not, lest ye judge?