Well, the standard in this contest was through the roof! Reading the poems, I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading poems in a top quality publication! Believe me, the standard was that high. Consequently there are sixteen winners, which is quite a large number for me. Those sixteen poems are all quality writes, regardless of where they placed on the list. I cannot emphasize that enough. There are a lot of multiple placements because there was so little to choose between many of the poems - I loved them all, but for different reasons. In judging them (which was an almost impossible task!) I considered imagery, use of metaphor and simile, subject matter, originality (always counts for a lot with me), technical ability - the entire 'package'. The three poems in joint 1st were placed for their sheer beauty and unique manipulation of language. A big congrats to my sixteen winners, and thank you to everybody who participated in this high standard contest! :)