Well, what can I say? All kinds of weird and wonderful things have occurred during the judging of this contest. And somehow (don't ask me how) I have beaten the premiere contest system and ended up with eleven winners on the list instead of ten, two in joint 8th place! Lol It's a mystery to me how it happened, but at least the ten winners I chose are all there! It also somehow posted the 1st place winner long before the contest was even finalized (hopefully no one saw it!)! I had people withdrawing poems, the contest repeatedly closing and then reopening lol. Anyway, I had some terrific entries, and it was really difficult to narrow them down. Apart from the 1st place winner, which was clear-cut for me, there was very little to choose between the other poems, and in many cases the numerical placements belie how good these tanka really are. So, apologies for the strangeness of it all and the delay in judging, congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to all who participated. I'm taking a break from contests now, I need to recover! Lol
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