'Winning' can perhaps best be considered by
reference to the opportunist entrant who might win that very first competition he or she
goes in for, and the regular entrant who though he or she might never get to the very top
of any prize winners list, nevertheless manages to attract a steady stream of worthwhile
prizes often throughout a career lasting many years. Usually the prizes will go to those who deserve them and here we find the
regular competitor; the one who works hard at the hobby; that person who studies the form
and never allows his talents to become stale, will be the one to feature more regularly at
the very top of the list of worthy winners. Where competitions are carefully judged and
where judges take care to eliminate obviously 'plagiarised' slogans from past
competitions, it is rare to discover a relative newcomer to the hobby making off with
first prize.
It can't though be denied that on occasion a newcomer
discovers an inherent talent for creating slogans and tie breakers, one which will take
him or hr immediately to the top of the competitions tree. Hence where we hear of people
winning big prizes with first ever competition entries, it is usually great talent or
extreme good luck to which they may attribute their success.
Luck in general has no part to play in the life of the
regular winner; diligence, persistence and working hard at improving one's skills are the
primary characteristics of the regular small or big-time winner.
'Plagiarism' is much maligned characteristic, with no place
in the lives of genuine entrants, amounting as it does to the deliberate copying of
someone else's past winning tie breaker. Competition rules almost always state that
'originality' is required of the tie breakers submitted for the competition, meaning of
course that the slogan should not only be especially created for the competition
concerned, but that it also should comprise only the original and sole efforts of the
person in whose name the entry is made. |