Private Eye - Paul Foot Awards: Nominations - want David Tuller?

While it's obviously for @dave30th to decide whether or not to nominate his work for this award, I'm not at all sure that this is the best point for him to do so. We're still waiting for there to be some kind of notable 'breakthrough' in the UK with how ME/CFS is regarded and treated and until that happens I think his chances of making it onto the shortlist are extremely slim.

If you look back at previous years' entries, the shortlist is often made up of huge stories that made a major impact over the preceeding 12 months - last year's finalists included the Cambridge Analytica expose, the Oxfam sex scandal and a piece about the many suspected Russian assassinations on British soil (and these were just the runners-up). In my opinion the best time for Dave to put himself forward for this award would be when he can point to some major UK development that has come about (at least in part) as a result of his work. And unfortunately we're not at that point yet.

But as I say, this is just my opinion.

 

While i do agree with you i am reminded of an old expression, if you don't ask you don't get.

 

That might be true, but I also think you have to choose your moment wisely if you want to optimise the chance of success.

 

In this case there would be no loss if he does not win this year but if he is not entered then he most certainly will not win.

 

Yes - but that kind of assumes that Dave doesn't mind sacrificing some of his weekend to write up an entry for an award that he has (imho) only an outside chance of winning, and then giving up even more time to arrange delivery of a hard copy to Central London before the Tuesday lunchtime deadline. Obviously I don't know what Dave's plans for this weekend are - maybe he has no plans and is at a loose end - but there is obviously a time cost (and possibly a financial cost as well) to be taken into account.

Is this the best use of Dave's time this weekend? That's for him to judge.

 

I agree that its for him to judge. What i am saying is that we should not be afraid to try for long shots because sometimes you win. How do we know what other entries have been made? I have seen situations where only 1 or 2 entries were made to obscure scholarships for example making the odds 50-100%!
I doubt thats the case here but we don't know and it could be in our favour.
And if he won that would raise his profile and make his words more widely known, a huge win for him and for ME.

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