Not sure if I've posted this before, here goes...
This is from the 'old' days: I "won" the Junior High School School Science Fair.
Judging was blind--no names on entries and no contestant by their entry as it is judged.
Each entry included a hand-written ledger stating what we did, how we did it, and what it meant to the scientific community. My ledger used PRINTED letters (not cursive), which in retrospect is used by teen males more often than teen females and may explain what happened next...
AFTER all contestants AND THEIR PARENTS had re-entered the display room AND seen the winner's plaque and certificate by my entry, the judges suddenly realized they had declared A GIRL their Science Contest Winner
. I was the FIRST GIRL
to win the school's Science Contest.
But the judges were having none of that!
(remember this was the olden days)
They huddled together and decided the winning entry was really a display by two BOYS (who ironically won the Science Fair, with a different display, the previous year).
In the uproar that followed it was decided I should still get a prize, so at the school's award ceremony later in the year I was given a ten dollar bookstore certificate while the two boys each got a twenty-five dollar bookstore certificate.
Only their names went on the plaque as the winners
.
My science teacher was upset, but it was his first year of teaching and he had no tenure and thus no say-so in re-instating me as THE winner. But I still have a fun story to tell
.