OUR SCORES PLEASE

To begin with Congratulations to Jackie, Malayapinas and Sunita. You have done it.

To be honest it was hard for me to see my name missing from the list, harder than I would have ever thought. Had the three awardees been selected directly it would not have hurt so much. But making it to the six and then not making it to the final three made it worse.

Jennifer called me on the Sunday evening to give the news and I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I kept wondering what went wrong, where did I let it slip.

It was a moment of reflection for me. I tried to go over the whole programme to see where I let myself down. Where was I lacking. The fact that I didn’t make it indicated I wasn’t good enough. And as it is right now I have been trying to prove a thing or two to myself and to a few others as well.

It occurred to me that in the very beginning I was told I will be judged on the basis of assignments only, my other posts will not be counted. It happened in the application process. So I guess I had the impression only assignments will be evaluated. I know I am not alone in thinking that there are a lot of correspondents who thought the same. Scott made a wonderful elaborate post regarding evaluation of assignments which I suggest should be made in the very beginning of the programme in future.

A similar post should have been made about how we will be evaluated for the scholarship and of course the awards. The criteria should have been made clear. Like if my other posts and activity on Pulsewire counted. To be fair it should have been mentioned in very beginning. It would have helped all of us. I think all of us still don’t have a clue about the criteria. We want to know how the six got selected on what basis. It is true not only of the three who missed but the rest of us as well who didn’t figure in the six.

The entire network of mentors will be evaluating your monthly assignments (however, they
will not be evaluating assignments from their own Correspondents). In general they will be
looking for clarity and originality of voice, solutions to the issue being covered, and depth of
coverage.

Based on their evaluations, the top 10 Correspondents will be submitted to our Global Voices
Council to select four awardees. Our Global Voices Council (GVC) includes such luminaries as
Marianne Pearl, Ory Okolloh, and Maria Hinajosa.

This is what we were told in the beginning.

Jennifer or Scott mentioned we will be mailed our scores. Now that the awards are out the scores of all of us will be ready. I suggest they be posted in a single post so that everybody gets to know who stands where and for what reason. I think there should be no problem in that. We are all here to learn something and improve upon what we already know.

I see this as an opportunity to find out the weaknesses in me so that I can work them out. It will be true for everyone. I have made this post in all honestly because I believe in coming out with what one feels or thinks. We are all here to help and support each other

So dear Scott please post the scores.

And I am looking forward to what my sisters have to add.

Lots and Lots of Love.
Nusrat

PS: I am feeling much lighter.