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Sure, that aligns with the authors, but what do you do when your winner heavily criticizes your sponsor and portrays them in a bad light? It doesn't necessaril
by bduerst 5y ago
Sure, that aligns with the authors, but what do you do when your winner heavily criticizes your sponsor and portrays them in a bad light?
It doesn't necessarily mean the story is correct - it is science fiction after all - but how will get sponsors with this conflict of interest?
- keiferski 5y agoWell, in some sense this is an inevitable problem with any contest that a) has sponsors and b) isn’t just making propaganda. I think the solution will just be to have a variety of funding sources and a variety of ways that winners are chosen. Ideally the “corporate” sponsors won’t be the only sources of prize money, but one among many. Even then, I don’t really foresee any controversial organizations being a sponsor anyway. More like: engineering company sponsors contest about physics. Overall, the goal is to create great literature, not write polemics, so I am not particularly worried that this will be an issue. Certainly there is always the chance that the winning story will be harshly critical, but great sci-fi is usually nuanced, not black-and-white.