Thank you to all who supported my First Draft premiere contest—it filled up pretty fast. Congratulations to all the winners. I will be visiting your poems shortly with a personal note and a short feedback. To those who did not make the cut, if you wish, please recheck your contest entry against the contest details at the foot of the winners’ list posted. Some amazing poems got knocked out of the race due to one or other of the design requirements not being met, e.g. longer than the stipulated 14 lines, or the inclusion of extraneous detail in the poem textbox field. Don’t let that discourage you – keep writing.
The choice of subject for the very first contest I held (in 2012) was dictated by a condition of my six-month membership I had won in a contest here at PoetrySoup, namely, that it featured the poetic form tanka. Well, Soupers, I did not know a tanka from a tango (which I must confess, I know next to nothing about). Being new to the game of writing per strict poetic form requirements (other than sonnets) I had to learn fast and it forced me to hit the ground running.
In those days, we did not have the option of a blog (introduced in 2015), nor could we post links. Hence the long and detailed description was the order of the day—everything, including the kitchen sink. It is much like some online recipe sites that not only list the ingredients to make a dish but also give a list of the kitchen paraphernalia required to make the said dish.
It was time for a fresh new look: Less jabber-jabber from me and more concise information in my contest descriptions. The first contest I held last year, Graffiti, April/May 2023, was brief—maybe too brief for some:
“What to enter for the contest? Please choose ONE of the following:
- A concrete/shape poem – your choice of image. Not too elaborate. For helpful tips, see my recent blog regarding Shape/Concrete poetry.
- A single sentence rich in imagery, no longer than 23 syllables. The length is dictated by the one breath rule in the delivery of prose. EXAMPLE: An attenuated tree branch (poetrysoup.com)
- A single heroic verse (2 lines only). Couplets with a metre/meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic verse. (You can check the stressed syllables of the root words against Howmanysyllables.com). EXAMPLE: Like burnt-out logs (poetrysoup.com)
And that is it. No names on your entry, please. No date, contest name, or sponsor’s name is required on the entry.”
After that contest, I did try to keep the contest descriptions brief with the relevant blogs carrying the brunt of the background information; a time-consuming exercise. These blogs were often necessary as diverse or incomplete information regarding poetic forms and specific conditions did not tally with particular contest requirements. Not forgetting some tedious and verbose follow-up blogs where I had to explain what ‘it’ meant. (Yes, it is an old joke.) I appreciated the feedback and the questions asked on those blogs, as it highlighted some incomplete/confusing content or holes in the premise. But I have now learned that many do not have the time to read blogs—we all want to get down to the business of reading and writing poetry and supporting our fellow Soupers’ contests. This is also true of the recommended links posted on the contest pages—once the readers are taken to another screen (an internal or external link), it is difficult to get them back on the same page (no pun intended). The motto of the story is: If it does not say so explicitly on the contest page, it more than likely would not get read.
Image generated, Suzette Richards, 23 April 2023
The rolling blackouts (country-wide power outages up to three a day, lasting for four hours at a time) that I have mentioned before make communication a frustrating business as it affects Internet connectivity. Now that I have to do most of my Internet reading on a cellphone,* it struck me to keep the contest description very brief (as from What to submit?…); within the parameters of the size of a cellphone screen to facilitate a screenshot, is perhaps the ideal. So, back to the drawing board …
Please see my latest Premiere Contest
Redamancy Poetry Contest (poetrysoup.com)
Making my contests even easier in content than the last couple of ones, (where is the fun in that?), is not an option for me. I enjoy the personal challenge of bringing something fresh to the table with my contests, as other sponsors do as well. As it states in the introduction to the contests:
Whether you're an amateur poet or a seasoned professional, there are plenty of poetry contests that cater to all levels and styles.
Thank you for reading.
Happy quills!
Suzette
*The standard English spelling in my country of residence.