Top 3 Reasons Panel Is Not Like Hunger Games
(1) Candidates Aren’t In Competition
Not only are candidates not competing with each other to the death, they’re not competing with each other at all. There are no quotas; no “slots.” Let me repeat: fellow candidates are not competiting with each other.
(3) Panel is Not Nationally Televised
While panel isn’t a secret—you’re reading about this important step in the selection process on a public blog—panel is an internal affair. The very human “who-will-make-it?” question that makes The Hunger Games (and The Bachelor, and Survivor, and much of reality TV) so addictive, it absolutely antithetical to the ethos of panel. All candidates who make it this far in the process are incredible changemakers, thinkers, doers, and leaders. At this point in the game, whether they become Ashoka Fellows has to do with their fit with our specific selection criteria.
(3) Dystopia has no Role Here
The dystopian vision of the future that is the backdrop of The Hunger Games couldn’t be further from conversations that happen at panel. These are conversations about how the future can be more equitable, more just, and more efficient. Correction—these are conversations about how candidates are, today, making the present world more equitable, more just, and more efficient.
