In the old days, we could see our winners' names right away, but not any more, so I am anxious to view my winner list.. In the meantime, I thought this would be a nice time to discuss my judging style, which I am sure is diffferent from the style of many other judges here. Those who read my blog, I hope this will help you to understand the things I am looking for when I judge a contest. If I am not scoring you high, reading this might help you in future contests of mine
First, I judge on five criteria, giving five points per each criterion:: correctness of the form/ originality or imagery/ grammar/ punctuation and spelling/ how much the poem appeals to me personally.
1. Regarding correctness to form, that means it's a good idea to write the form the way I described it. If rhyme is involved, I do not mean near-rhyme; I mean actual rhyme. Several poets lost points for using too many near rhymes or trying to rhyme suffixes only. Words like doleful and cheerful do not rhyme, even if they end with ful. But soulful would rhyme with doleful. If you are ever unsure of rhymes, check RhymeZone.com Also involved in correctness of form is the number of syllables in a line. I strongly suggested using 8 syllables per line since I have not seen swap quatrains written any other way. One person emailed me about that. As long as a person was consistent, I don't think I deducted points for doing otherwise; however, writing a few lines with 9 syllables and others with 6 or 7 is not a consistent way to write a swap quatrain, and that would mean a deduction of points.
2. Regarding imagery and originality, I think I gave most people at least 3 or more points. The top winners wrote poems either very meaningful, or they used not just descriptive language but also metaphor or beautiful imagery.
3. Regarding grammar, I am rather picky with this. Probably few poets even would realize what I would be considering as examples of incorrect grammar. If you ever want to know your scores in my five criteria, just send me a Soupmail. If it's the grammar that was low, I can try to explain the problem to you. I think even poets who are native English speakers may not realize what dangling participles are, and I always find a few of those inside the entries.
4. A lot of people lose points in the criterion of punctuation/spelling. Spelling is generally ok. Punctuation loses more points for people than almost any other criterion. I wrote an article which appears at Soup. It describes when to use commas vs. periods. Some people use hardly any punctution at all. If their line breaks are clear, they probably end up with fewer points lost than poets who used lots of bad punctuation. Again, if you ever have questions about that, shoot me an email.
5. Finally is my personal opinion of a poem. As a female, I prefer feminine themes. Dark poetry is great too. I am drawn to interesting poems about love, family, beauity, communication, and even humorous things. Also I love lucid poems. Some people write in a mysterious way that I do not understand, or they might use symbols that are more recognizable to the masculine mind. Your poem may be deep and beautiful, but if I don't get it, it won't score more than a 3 out of 5 in that criterion. I do not mind poems about spirituality as long as they are written in a way that I find clever. I love metaphors and personification, but if I disagree with what your metaphor is implying, I won't like your poem as much as poems I rate higher.
Well, I need to prepare dinner now, so I sure hope I can at least view my winner list now before I go offline. Thanks to all who participated in my contest. I feel I was very generous with wins, and I am this way because I like to reward everyone who makes a decent effort. I will come to your winning poem later. For July I will be opening up a new contest. Happy July, everybody.