Poetry Competitions

Are competitions worth the effort?

Can be. There's more than just luck involved - the same names turn up time after time in short-lists. Winning a big competition is good for your reputation (no favouritism involved). Also there's money to be made - although there may be many entries, the majority are no-hopers. Looking at it purely numerically, you've a better chance of winning a reasonable prize than being accepted by a reasonable magazine, and unlike magazine submissions there's a clear cut-off date after which you can send your poem elsewhere. Some competitions offer book publication are the prize - one of the few ways for new poets to get published nowadays.

Is there such a genre as "the competition poem"?

Some people say so. Judges are looking for excuses to reject poems so avoid obvious errors and obvious subject matter. Also have a strong start/end, don't be obscure and don't take too many risks - a great line won't in itself win a competition though a bad line will lose one. Poems with obvious technical skill seem to do quite well though they don't often win.

Matthew Sweeney in a judge's report wrote "We felt that the main prizewinners should touch on ... the big issues of death and love", but I don't think all competitions are judged like that. It's best to avoid hackneyed subjects. It might also be a good idea to avoid dealing with recent big events - too many other poets might have chosen the same topic.

Winning competitions can be like applying for a job. The first stage is more to do with avoiding errors in order to get in the short-list. The second stage is where depth is revealed.

Who judges?

Established mainstream poets, usually. They're often full time writers or tutors, not necessarily knowledgeable about many types of poetry. But they've a keen eye for bad examples of the types of poetry they understand - bad poems might be rejected in 10 seconds. When there's more than one judge, don't expect a surprise winner.

If the entry form says "Final Judge: ..." (or even if it doesn't!) the named judge will only see a short-list of poems selected by people who are usually nameless.

Is it worth reading up on the judge(s)?

If you're going to send in something that's a little unusual it's worth knowing what sort of poetry the judges don't like (they may not appreciate L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, for example, however good it is). Don't assume however that they only like the sort of stuff they write.

Who wins?

Knowns and unknowns. In the US there's a problem with judges selecting the work of [ex]students (even in anonymous competitions). Some competitions over there now stipulate that related students can't win. I wonder how much this has happened in the UK?

Who gets the profits?

Sometimes a writers group, a charity, or a magazine. Sometimes there are no profits - the competition is sponsored or funded by an endowment. But do think about where the money goes.

Which competitions should I enter?

See the lists produced by the National Poetry Library (it's on the WWW). Beware of covert exploitation - a £1 entry fee deserves a £100 first prize, a £3 entry fee deserves at least a £500 first prize. And if the judges aren't named, don't bother entering. Here are some of the bigger UK competitions -
[Quotes] [Workshops] [Articles] [LitRefs]
Tim Love, September 2007.
tpl@eng.cam.ac.uk