I laughed out loud when I read this by story by Peter Free in the Sydney Morning Herald.

I’ve been writing short stories for about six years and if I write PC-aligned stories, I usually do well in awards or competitions, although I’ve doubted their worth.

Unfortunately, most of my stories don’t conform to any political orthodoxy. They’re not about children, domestic violence, gay rights, transgender issues, bushfires, the environment or broken hearts.

For my sins, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was the head of the RMIT professional and creative writing programs. I enjoyed it when students won prizes but I was also alarmed that many of the judges had little judging experience and were ‘simply available’ to judge a writing contest.

According to the Free article, nothing much has changed.

These days, I check who the judges are and if they haven’t got the runs on the board or only shortlist writers of the same identity politics orientation, I don’t bother submitting.