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Poetry Writers’ Yearbook own competition 2007
By kind permission of A & C Black, we are delighted to reprint the
editor Gordon Kerr's article from the 2008 edition of the Poetry Writers'
Yearbook about judging this and other competitions. It gives a useful
insight into what is involved.
Win some, lose some…
Gordon Kerr has just had his first experience of judging a poetry competition
and passes on some tips to prospective poetry competition entrants.
Having just completed the judging of the first A & C Black Poetry Writers’
Yearbook Poetry competition, I feel eminently qualified to dispense advice
to poetry competition entrants.
But that’s the only competition you’ve ever judged, I hear you say! And,
of course, you are absolutely right. I was a poetry competition virgin until
a thick brick (more of a breeze block, actually) of a parcel containing hundreds
of entries to our competition was delivered by a grudging and slightly
breathless postman a few weeks ago. ‘There’s quite a lot’, I had been told. I
had, of course, failed to spot the relief in the voice at the other end of the
line when I agreed to judge the competition. A fatal mistake, not to be
repeated!
Seriously, however, it was a fascinating exercise and I do not make light of
people’s enthusiasm, firstly for the writing of poetry in the face of the
impossibility of ever getting published and secondly, of course, for entering
the competition set up by the publisher of this book of which I have the honour
and pleasure of being editor. The quality was, on the whole, far better than
I had expected and there were about a dozen top-notch poems that could have
graced any anthology or magazine. However, it would be remiss of me not to
take this opportunity to make a few practical points about the business of
submitting poetry for competitions.
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Read the rules.
Or, rather, read the rules and ahere to them. Most competitions will
stipulate a line length and/or a style. No point entering your 3,000 line epic
about herring fishing off the Faero Islands for a competition restricted to
thirty line poems about Siamese cats (note to competition organisers –
never set anything to do with cats; your postman will take a contract out
on you!) |
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Stick to the
subject. Don’t just find a poem of yours that you rather like and amend it to
deal with the subject – that will rarely work. Think carefully about the
subject and bring your own thoughts, images and language to it. The poem will
be a much better piece of work and you will stand a better chance of doing
well in the competition. If a subject is not something that gets your creative
juices flowing, forget it and move on to another. The work will not be good. |
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Read previous winners’ work (if available). There is no point entering a
competition if you are not aware of the calibre of work that is being sought
and which does well. Repeatedly in this book, writers exhort poets to read the
work of other poets, to understand the world into which you are trying to
place your work. And too many of us are not reading poetry being published in
books, in magazines and on the Internet. This was very evident from many of
the poems entered for our competition. A number of entrants had obviously not
read any poetry since their schooldays, if then. |
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Submit according to the rules. Faced with a pile of 500 poems to be judged
before breakfast, a poetry judge is likely to be happy to consign any that
breach the rules to the wastepaper basket. This is especially true where the
rules stipulate that your work is presented in such a way that the judge can
judge the poem anonymously. |
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Beware of scams. There are unscrupulous people out there who are in it for the
money and there is quite a bit of money to be made from gullible poets
desperate to see their work in print (See Johnathon Clifford on
Anthologisers on page ???). There is nothing wrong with people charging
for entry to competitions – it is necessary to cover administration and prizes
and so on – but I would recommend that you check the quality of the work in
previous competitions and make sure that firstly, you are not being ripped off
and secondly, that you are happy for your work to be seen in that context.
However, there are certainly enough good, honest poetry competitions for you
to submit in the knowledge that it is all above board. |
Gordon Kerr is a freelance writer, editor and poet.
Poetry Writers' Yearbook own
2008 competition and last year's winning poem
Poetry Writers' Yearbook
article about ePoetry and eZines.
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