(Callum)
The shortlist was released at nine-thirty in the morning.
By ten o’clock, half the department was talking about it.
By noon, the other half had joined them.
Universities had a remarkable ability to transform ordinary announcements into major events, especially when those announcements involved opportunities people actually wanted.
The conference had become the topic of the week.
Possibly the month.
Every hallway conversation seemed to circle back to it.
Every meeting somehow included it.
Every student appeared either excited, terrified, or both.
The reactions were understandable.
The conference mattered.
A lot.
The students selected would gain visibility most researchers spent years chasing.
The kind of opportunity that changed trajectories.
The kind people remember
