ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I agree with a little of what you are saying, but we cannot have the same judges all the time. That is being silly, Glenny. There are not enough judges to go around. Certainly not judges as members here appear to want for every competition in the country. It would be nice, but it is unrealistic. We need a broader selection of judges than we have. But where do we get them from?

Neil

keats wrote:We need a broader selection of judges than we have. But where do we get them from?

Neil

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Accredited Judges ? A List ? Never seen it so I assume the comp organisers may not have either ! Perhaps that is part of the problem.

One thing I do agree with is that the competition organisers need to change the judges on a regular basis and just because Joe Bloggs ( Not sure if he is accredited ) has judged a particular comp for years why should that continue. Variety is the spice of life.

Hey Glenny Riding for the disabled love old trophies to recycle for the kids ?

Robert

I was nearly dragged off the street once to be a judge - seriously - and not because of any perceived credentials but just because I happened to be there. Yep, true story. Oh, and I declined....

The British Navy used to use similar tactics, from what I have read - but their offers were not so easy to decline.

Accredited Judges ? A List ? Never seen it so I assume the comp organisers may not have either ! Perhaps that is part of the problem.

I agree with Bob. I'm a comp organiser and haven't seen the list, nor do I know where to get a copy. Perhaps it could go up on the website?
I know keeping things up-to-date on the website takes time, but I would be happy to contribute some if it helps.

Well said, Glenny. There is a list of accredited judges and it has been published at least twice in the magazine, but maybe not for a while. No reason why there couldn’t be more on the list. Where do they come from? Look at those not on the list who are consistently doing well in competitions. As Glenny says, that’s where experience comes from…testing yourself against others.

Good organisers set up their judges well in advance, months before the competition’s closing date. I judged six written competitions this year, three of them straight bush poetry. Anywhere from about 30 to over 200 entries. I don’t want a bigger judging workload than that, and would be surprised if any poet was prepared to give up entering competitions in order to judge full-time.

I much prefer writing to judging, and (in reference to some of the comments in this thread), if my adherence to certain standards is seen as counter-productive then I’ll simply take my name off that list. No problem, believe me. More time for writing.

David

There is an ABPA accredited judges list, recently updated.
I'll post it on the site soon.

A bit off topic, the website is under review for a facelift t make it compatible with mobile devices.
May not affect many on here but there is a decided increase in mobile web access, so we must keep up or get left behind.

There has been a delightful, and unexpected number of subscribers (Likes in Facebook speak) on our new Facebook page.

OK, back to " Punk-chew-ayshun"

Hey, that's bonza Manfred. Perhaps it should be a permanent fixture in the magazine also? And is it worth putting on Facebook in case we unearth any other qualified judges?

I was the poetry co-ordinator for a fair sized annual event for about 10 years. There were 2 other judges & moi. One was a journalist & the other a local businessman who was quite au fait with the genre. I found it the most enlightening experience, as many of the arguments around the judging table expanded my thinking & introspection enormously. The mix seemed to work as it was all (naturally) anonymous entries & we managed to choose the likes of Ellis Campbell & Ron Stevens etc etc. This just makes me think that perhaps the 'teachers, artisans' etc may be ok if an accredited judge was at the helm?
Ever onward............

I've had a bit of a better think about this & I can see what you are saying Neil. I've had to get the smelling salts out on seeing a very small percentage of the written results. But I honestly think that the majority do have deserving, quality awardees. I think our entry into the social media is excellent!! & should unearth a larger following...in amongst where there may be potential new judges. I have been 'off the scene' a while what with nursing croc etc, but it seems to me that we aren't doing too badly. Some elite writers may somewhat dominate the results but we do have extremely good prospective winners nipping at their heels. I see a number of members who are improving at a rate of knots, & while it may be a slow process advancement does evolve.

This may sound a tad idealistic, but I'm just wondering if we can't start to groom more judges by holding workshops on same? We could possibly use already judged entries (with permission of course) to 'test' the 'students' for their final exam? The already judged winners of the said comp would be excluded from this of course, but after the judging there are still heaps of quality verses that didn't win....and they are already numbered so as to be anonymous. They're only destined for the wheelie bin anyway. Add to this, sending organisers reasonably regular guidelines for choosing good judges & you never know. We just may increase the pool? Is the ABPA financially able to partially subsidise paying the accredited judges? We don't charge that much. This would possibly motivate organisers to choose from the accredited pool? Workshops would be quite demanding to conduct but I'd chip in if my expenses were covered. (I'm poverty stricken...which is prerequisite to being a poet. )
One good thing to come out of your observations is that we have inadvertently failed to adequately circulate the list of available judges. Fix that & keep organisers informed & we should make some decent progress. Yay!

Cheeers thong boy. (Hey! 'Thong Boy' would be a bonza name for your musical CD's. Get it? Thong Boy...Song Boy. Gawd I'm clever. ) XX