Cheat-A-Sutra: The Tea Council Exposed for Unfair Policy in National Scholarship Contest

[iChoctate]

Also, extending the deadline doesn't necessarily hurt the people who made the first deadline. If you're worried about your chances, whip up another video using your mad filming skillz! The rules allow it, and it only increases your chances of winning!

So maybe it was or wasn't right for the deadline to be extended...

Either way, its been done.

Nobody is being hurt here. There are only more opportunities for success.

And like Lazerdix says "what is there to complain about? Money is money"

[iChoctate]

You talk about fairness, but how is is fair to toss out all of the new entries from the people who are making the deadline extension?

Not all of the new entries come from lazy people. Some of them come from students who were not fortunate enough to find out in time for the first deadline. For some, this deadline was a second chance at an opportunity that they knew nothing of.

[Lazerdix]

If you hadn't noticed by looking at the entries: most of them are really lame.

extending the deadline gives more time for people to enter, which is higher probability they won't be forced to pick a winner out of all of maybe two or three good films. This is a pretty common occurrence in competitions.

For those whining about starting early: it's still 15k. Pay your student loans, save it for next year, what is there to complain about? Money is money.

[backspace9100]

The tea council uses the dedicaterd people for publicity, then they launce the REAL deadline weeks after several pages of entries have come along.

[mandygrace23]

Exactly...I'm starting college in August. My classes have to be paid by August 6th. So this contest won't benefit me at all now. I was really unfair what they did!!

[rosspoletti]

What good does it do someone who is going to college in August to have the judges results come when the school year has already started? They owe a serious apology to those who worked hard during the school year to make the original deadline and now must compete with those who didn't care to enter before.

[backspace9100]

This is an egregious wrong by the Tea Council. Now all the lazy kids who didn't get their stuff together in time will have a full 2 extra months to do a video. Furthermore, they've watched all of ours and they know what to aim for and what not to aim for. Its a HUGE slap in the face for us who've already submitted.

PLUS: these kids not have the SUMMER to do their video, while everyone else previously had to manage time around school work,

The Tea Council of the USA is corrupt and wrong.

[badAnachronism]

i managed to get my video in with 2 weeks to spare and was still stressing and submitting another video isn't going to change the odds. i got an e-mail stating that it was "due to the popularity and high results of videos entered" and they wanted to give "more people an opportunity to compete". we all had plenty of time, so why didn't they?

[crimeasutra]

You're still a candidate. However, this is still a problem because:

1. You're now competing with a growing pool of new filmmakers with two whole months to make their films. Many May 31st applicants scrambled to meet that deadline, and cut corners to do so.

2. Improving upon your film or making a new film would require a whole new marketing effort (bugging friends & family who already had to watch your initial effort; it would likely prove far harder to garner as many youtube hits.)

[BlackFlame619]

After this stunt I don't think I'd EVER do a video for them. It's an insult to the film makers who had their videos in on time.

[Sillysteph1213]

I didn't even know they had changed the deadline until I got your message... Sooo that basically means that the winner will not be able to use the scholarship money for the fall right? Don't most semesters *begin* in August?

Another question... you said there were 80 applicants that made the deadline right? So are we just basically screwed? Do we have to resubmit a new video?

[mondocoffee]

yea, what the junk.

[peterrussellthegreat]

yeah this is absurdity. they lost a lot of respect from a lot of people.