About Winning Competitons (an opinion)

[alongtimegone]

From Litrefs Articles
Literary articles by Tim Love

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. The poetry style's affected accordingly.
(and)
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.

[Zondrae]

I think Tim has got it right. The story is the key.

We should be able to see our own weaknesses. Mine is in arranging the 'punch line' so that it comes right at the end. I know my endings tend to be weak but I'm not sure how to fix it. I guess more 'contemplating of the navel' is warranted. Sometimes I don't know when to stop and feel that I should explain what came after when it is not essential to the plot. Do I include every detail or should I leave something for the reader to 'fill in'?
It is in times like this, or I should say in positions like this, I need a teacher. Not wanting to bother others I will stumble on and find the key eventually. I have had a bit of a rest in my 'quest' but of late have started a few new pieces. I hope it will suddenly dawn on me.

[Stephen Whiteside]

I don't think you should worry about it so much, Zondrae. We all have our own style. There is no single right way. The key is to keep writing, and not try to make every poem you write a potential competition winner. Write and write and write, and your own style will emerge. Don't try and second guess yourself and censor yourself too much as you go. Just let it flow.

[manfredvijars]

What ^ he ^ says ...

[Stephen Whiteside]

I don't know that there is any objective 'pinnacle' - perhaps there is no pinnacle at all.

I see competitions as a useful tool, but no more, especially early in your writing career. Other tools might be publication, performance, etc. In fact, you might decide that bush poetry is just one part of your creative career, together with other forms of verse, songwriting, acting, whatever.

The difficulty for bush poetry is that competitions are such an obvious path to take, as publication options are so limited. But it can be a trap. I don't think it would ever be a good idea to simply write for competitions, but that's just my opinion.

Are competitions good or bad for your writing? I think they can definitely be both. Technical expertise is much easier to judge than other aspects of poetry, so it may well be that a technically excellent poem that is really rather dull may well win out over a poem that tells a ripper tale but is a bit sloppily put together.

On the other hand, the general public - and publishers - like to see competition wins. It gives you a bit of kudos and credibility, so it would be a mistake to avoid them altogether.

Moderation in all things is the answer, I think. Sure, enter comps, but don't take it all too seriously, and don't focus on comps to the exclusion of other avenues of endeavour - even if they may be a little harder to identify.

Just my two bobs' worth.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, I think so. If others choose to see comps as the 'be all and end all', it's not really your problem.

[Gary Harding]

I have to admire all the people who put in the time and effort to run written bush poetry competitions. Plus those who judge them, especially when they have many entries to sort through. Or maybe worse, when they only get a few entries to sort after all their hard work!

Such competitions can be a huge source of encouragement to fledgling writers, including very young people I believe.

Ages ago, in the years before the internet really got going I would send off entries along with all the other hopefuls and wait for results. There was simply nothing else to do with the poems. The thrill of getting an occasional Commended etc was a real boost. It was a personal endorsement by some annonymous authority. Great!

On the other hand I guess there is an argument that if the Muse has you, you simply must write, competition or not.

In 2010 I had a crack at the Bryan Kelleher Literary Award which had an amazing prize of $1000! and in 2013 through Zondrae's encouragement had a go at the Kangaroo Valley comp. Both were a confidence booster at a time when it was needed.

Now the king of all Competitions is the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry.

I have a huge love of Money (or rather the things that it can buy) and this little baby is worth $80,000 tax free. $80,000 Courtesy of the poor Australian Taxpayer. If you only get shortlisted well you have to make do with $5000.

Isn't this an opportunity and challenge to ABPA members.?

But before any Poet rushes off to enter... consider this extract from the 2013 Winning Book Entry.

http://arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/ ... xcerpt.pdf

Wow!! One can see that the gigantic cash sum of $80,000 is not given away for nothing. A very high standard of poetry is demanded... but don't let me scare you off. Why not have a go next year?

Yes, Competitions can be odd things, for sure.... but in the end surely they are a great source of Fun and Encouragement, as long as one does not take them toooo seriously!

If I am ever fortunate enough to win one, my attitude now is "Hey you are not that much of a poet Gary. Consider yourself lucky you got the judges you did!! It is all subjective after all."

[manfredvijars]

Let me guess, an "Ern Malley" resurrection???
(this 'high' standard (of poetry?) is demeaning)

Yes, yes, I know - I'm being subjective!!

[Gary Harding]

Hey Manfred!!

You are not poking fun at genuine Australian National Award Winning Poetry are you?? It has the Prime Minister's approval.

Ern Malley could never aspire to such Federal Arts Ministry (and Ministerial) endorsed classic lines as.... Quote:

"Goat comes down and watches
us over its shoulder, shits on the wall of the rainwater
tank—our lifeline—and hobbles off
to where it prays, where it makes art."

.. geeez..

At least it says "art" and not something that rhymes with that.... although that is probably more appropriate when I think about it.

Such incredibly good poetry should be taught in school English classes.

Who could ever hope to compete with that sort of poetic writing! Never in a million years.

I would defy anyone to claim that it is anything less than brilliant.

Lawson would be envious. Leonard Teale would have been desperate to recite such words!

$80,000 for that. ?

Envious? you bet I am.

[Neville Briggs]

There's a couple of fatal mistakes infecting these offerings.
1. Non-art is the same as art. or Non poetry is the same as poetry.
2. We can create art anew out of our own mind without referring to any tradition.

Can these be true. I don't think so.

On the second one, I think that there is no way to avoid tradition. Tradition is of vital lmportance because we cannot create in a vacuum. These sort of post-modernists I suspect are really serious. But they are wrong, we can only build on what we already have, otherwise it s not art, just narcissistic rambling, we are not creators ex nihilo.

On the first. We can only accept that non art is art( non poetry equals poetry ) if we can accept that; truth is the same as lies, darkness the same as light, evil the same as good , cruelty is the same as kindness. This is not just my pseudo philosophical peregrinations, the video link that Manfred put up on Clarke and Dawe shows that post-modernist unreason affects our everyday life drastically. And the seemingly innocuous Prime Minister's approval for this poetry could speak volumes about the commitment of politicians to the death of meaning and truth in language.