Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After receiving instructions from the higher-ups, ABC Iowa Station began a follow-up report on this year’s Fall Cup Competition.
The resources mobilized were almost equivalent to the quadrennial governor’s election.
It was also promoted on their official Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Like the election, Iowa TV station’s program analyst also conducted a poll.
“Which book would you like to see winning this year’s Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition?”
This semi-official poll quickly spread on social media and attracted more people to participate.
After the TV station got the real-time data, they immediately carried out an analysis.
The results of the analysis were synced to everyone through live broadcast.
“Looking at it now, among the four shortlisted works, ‘Candle in the Tomb’ and ‘The Lost Tomb’ have the highest approval ratings, leaving the other two books far behind. ‘Candle in the Tomb’ has a majority of male supporters and attract an older audience over the age of 30, while interestingly, ‘The Lost Tomb’ has a majority of female supporters with a younger audience between 18 to 30 years old. Although the two books has the same theme, the content is completely different and are aimed at completely different groups of readers. What an interesting phenomenon!”
“Right now, the number of supporters for these two works is increasing, and there’s not much of a difference between the two. Based on the data alone, we’re still unsure who will win!”
“Let’s wait and see the final results tonight! I will be looking forward to the real-time voting session tonight.”
The TV station invited two guest commentators to cover the Fall Cup.
One of the commentators was Ockham, who often published op-ed pieces in world-class literary magazines such as The New Yorker, Granta, and The Paris Review.
He had a considerable influence in the industry.
The books he recommended would have outstanding results in the selection of literary awards in the future.
The other commentator was Iris, a 24-year-old Youtuber.
She recommended interesting and good books from all over the world on her Youtube account and had more than a million subscribers.
These two commentators were so diverse in terms of gender, age, background, and many more aspects, which allowed them to have completely distinct perspectives. Thus, their evaluations of books would be different.
This was also the highlight of the review program.
After the host introduced the difference in the composition of fans of the two works, he asked, “I’d like to ask our guests what are your comments on the participating works this time?”
Ockham spoke first. “Without a doubt, I think ‘Candle in the Tomb’ is well-deserving to be the champion of this competition. The author’s excellent literary foundation and powerful plot sucks the audience into the ancient Chinese times like it’s our personal experience. I hope that this book will reach more readers after this competition. In the evening vote, I’ll also urge my family to vote for it.”
The host smiled and said, “Mr. Ockham, it seems that you really love this book and fit into the target reader of this book based on our analysis earlier. Ms. Iris, which book do you prefer?”
Iris answered in a light voice, “Of course, it’s ‘The Lost Tomb’. I’d have to disagree with Ockham, although I like your literary criticism very much, I can’t agree with you this time. The characters in ‘Candle in the Tomb’ are flat and have no depth, unlike ‘The Lost Tomb’, so I’d say that the latter will be this year’s winner.”
“Mr. Ockham said that he wants his son to vote for ‘Candle in the Tomb’ earlier.”
“I think that his son will much prefer ‘The Lost Tomb’. I’d also like to appeal to the young people in our country to vote based on which work you think is best, not according to your parents’ wishes!”
Although Iris did not say it directly, she was implying that the younger generation should vote for “The Lost Tomb”.
“While I’m at it, let me give you a little tip for our young supporters of ‘The Lost Tomb’. What are you going to do if your parents want to vote for ‘Candle in the Tomb’? I’m sure you guys probably have encountered difficult math problems in school, right? When it’s time to vote, take your difficult math problem, the harder the better, and ask your parents to help you. They’ll certainly try to help you. This way, even though you can’t vote, your parents can’t either. You’ll exchange one vote for two of theirs and it’s a good deal!”
After she said that, the audience, including many young viewers in front of the television, burst into laughter.
Ockham frowned and said, “Then I have to add too. Parents who are watching right now, if your children like ‘The Lost Tomb’, remember to cut off the wifi at home tonight and get them to do their homework. As parents, you have to tell the children who’s really in charge at home!”