The brief this year was to write a review and the adjudicator was Sarah Johnson, a ‘Guardian’ journalist and author. Her favourites from the six entries were:
1st ‘Book Review – an alternative approach’ by Sheila Whitfield
2nd = ‘Midsummer Magic’ by Carol Mayer and ‘National Service’ by Peter Hicks
3rd ‘The Number Bias’ by Peter Page
All six entries were shared on line as follows:
• Susan – ‘Vote for a Supernanny State’ – a review of the ‘Supernanny’ TV reality series with particular reference to one particular episode of ‘Supernanny USA’
• Maggie – ‘Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience’ – a not altogether complimentary review of a visit post-lockdown to the Van Gogh immersive experience at St Mary’s in York
• Peter P – ‘The Number Bias’ – a review of the recently published book ‘The Number Bias’ by Sanne Blauw, a short non-fiction work about the use of numbers
• Carol – ‘Midsummer Magic’ – a look at the Glastonbury Festival over the years developed from a piece written for the RWG ‘Solstice’ sharing
• Sheila – ‘Book Review – an Alternative Approach’ – a review of the novel ‘If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things’ by Jon McGregor first published by Bloomsbury in 2002, paying particular attention to reasons why one might want to reread the novel more than once
• Peter H – ‘National Service’ – a review of what National Service did for men of Peter’s generation and how that sort of experience might be applied in a more flexible form today.
