Competition problems re publication

[Irene]

Some good points have been raised here.
Personally, I believe that, as poets, we need to be clarifying the regulations with the competition organisers ourselves.
When we write seeking clarification (and it should be in writing!) and receive an answer, we are then free to further contact the organisers and express our concern or reasons as to why a regulation may unfairly limit our eligibility, and/or affect our willingness to enter their competition in the future. We are also then free to offer suggestions on alternatives that we feel may enhance their comp entries.

My belief is that, as David says, most organisers have used a form taken from another competition, and are solely focussed on their own competition. They most likely have never considered the effect such regulations (ie not having been published) may have on the future viability of their competition, and would possibly be only too pleased to review their regulations in light of our comments.
If they are not interested, and are rigid in their beliefs without even considering constructive criticism, I would venture to say that they are probably competitions that you would not necessarily be worried about missing!!

Generally, if you encourage someone to look at an issue from another point of view, most reasonable people will at least consider your options, even if they ultimately chooose to continue with their original idea. If they don't, don't enter the comp!! There are many ways to raise these issues without upsetting the organisers - feedback is always a very important aspect of ensuring your competition continues.

Just my humble opinion!!
Catchya
IRene

[william williams]

Tiss a question that I am asking.

We compete for First, Second and Third prizes and these are prizes be they cash or other wise.

But Highly Commended and Commended certificates are as such a certificate that is a statement telling you that it is not quite good enough.

So how can they be a prize when they are just a complement of that persons ability and as such should be allowed to be entered in any other compertition.

Bill Williams

[Mal McLean]

Well, I am going to enter a former HC poem of mine into a well known and supported competition, along with some new poems. I am going to include a cover note advising the organisers that it was been awarded and HC, that it has not been included in an anthology, nor published on line and i have recieved no prize monies or other funds in relation to it. Further I will advise that i have made some structural changes to the poem to improve it in line with a judges comments that the stanzas could have been shorter. I will do all this very politely and in the interests of assisting the contributions to this thread. l will let them know that I am asking for their advice so that I can advise other poets of the intent of the rules in relation to their comp. I don't know if I should pass on that advice or not until results are announced.

I hope this will prove of some assistance

[David Campbell]

You're right, Bill. I've always assumed that "prizes" meant "cash prizes" and haven't seen any suggestion previously that it included HC and C awards. I'm going to write back to the organisers and make that point.

Good idea, Mal. You're making your position quite clear and alerting the organisers (I presume) that there might be some ambiguity in their guidelines. I'm also in a bind as to whether to name the competition that's sent me this more detailed info. I don't like to without their permission and they didn't say anything about passing it on. I'll write back and ask that, too, because the competition is still open.

Cheers
David

[Robyn]

Thanks David, for taking the time to raise these issues and keep us up-to-date. I'm a newbie at competitions but I can see the issues you raise are going to affect more and more people who enter comps, and I think you are on the right track to keep raising the issue, politely, with organisers who may not have considered the full implications of their guidelines and restrictions. I'll be interested to see how you go.
Robyn

[Maureen K Clifford]

Some very interesting discussion and thank you David for giving and still seeking clarification. In the meantime is it just my perception that these regulations are causing people to not post anything on sites like this for fear of not being able at a future date to enter a particular piece into a comp.

It seems to me rightly or wrongly that this what is happening to our site. The amount of postings seems to have dropped dramatically over the past couple of weeks and I for one find it very noticeable. It would be a shame if valuable teaching sites like this dried up due to lack of interest due to nothing being posted in so far as new poetry submissions go.

Cheers

Maureen

[Stephen Whiteside]

I suppose it could be a factor, Maureen. Perhaps these things have a natural life cycle. We all know each other pretty well now, and can largely probably predict the various reactions to our poems. I, for one, after years and years of writing poems, am now writing more stories.

[Maureen K Clifford]

That's true Stephen - I have also branched out into other areas - but for new people interested in Bush Poetry who are viewing the site it makes for pretty dreary reading when nothing new is posted up - poetry wise and the main input seems to be 'in-house conversation' amongst the long standing members.

I just fear that the same thing over time could happen as did on the other Bush Poetry site that Zondrae and a few of us were on - where the input dwindled to just a very few.

[David Campbell]

Thanks Robyn and Maureen. Good to know the discussion is of value. It may seem to some (particularly those not interested in written competitions) that I’m going on a bit with this, but it’s important. As mentioned in an earlier post, there are two writers whose names currently appear on a website along with a statement that their entries were disqualified for breaking the rules. That’s embarrassing. I have no idea of their circumstances, but experience has taught me to keep an open mind…things are not necessarily as they seem. A few years ago I was accused in a nationally published magazine (not ABPA) of breaking competition rules. I hadn’t, but something that competition organisers did made it appear as if I had. Negotiating the huge variety of complex, vague, and sometimes contradictory guidelines in use is no easy task.

Which brings me to another suggestion. All competitions should include in their guidelines a clear indication of when results will be published. Fortunately, quite a few bush poetry competitions are associated with festivals, so the time-line is clear. But there are still many others that leave entrants in limbo.

For example, I’m still waiting on the results of a poetry competition (not bush poetry) that closed at the end of October…four months ago. And they’re going to produce an anthology, which probably won’t come out until several months after the results are announced. I’d now like to use my entries in other competitions, but can’t with any certainty because I don’t know if they’ve won a prize and/or will be published. It’s extremely frustrating to be left in the dark like this. When competition organisers appoint judges (which is usually well in advance) they set a time-line…that is, the date when they’ll receive the entries, and the date when they want the judging finalised. So there should be no reason why it can’t be stated in the guidelines that results will be announced on (or by) such-and-such a date. Again, it’s a case of organisers thinking beyond their own competitions.

Cheers
David

[Leonie]

It's been interesting reading through these posts. All the points made are valid. For myself I have pondered over the rules too and sent the odd email asking for clarification only to receive a reply that just confused me even more. One other thing that I think needs to move into the 21st Century is the way most of them require payment by cheque or money order. I hadn't held a cheque account for at least 20 years when I decided to enter my very first poetry competition three or four years ago, and as for money orders - probably more like 40 years since using one of those.

The bigger comps like the Ipswich one use credit card or paypal payment of entry fees, and online submission of entries, so much easier, especially for people like me. I've lost interest in comps to some degree so tend to leave it to the last possible moment to decide whether or not to enter and that's when my printer cartridge will run out of ink, or I realise I have run out of envelopes, and then I just think - oh to hell with it, can't be bothered, the poem's probably not that good anyway. But if there was an easier option I would probably still give it a shot.