So Thursday is National Poetry Day, which I shall be celebrating with my Hastings Stanza group, doing what poets do… agonising over line-breaks, commas and what have you. Before that though, on Wednesday, I’ll be at the Fisherman’s Club for the prize readings of a local competition I was a judge for, on the themeRead more ⟶
Tag: poetry competitions
Let’s talk about failures…
There’s something that happens more and more on Twitter that makes me feel slightly queasy. But I also hesitate to say this, because it might not go down well. It’s the habit of (as soon as the results of a competition are out) dashing off a tweet to the effect of: ‘Congratulations to all theRead more ⟶
Poetry competitions now open – to enter, or not?
I’ve noticed there are a number of poetry competitions about to close – January seems to be a competition battleground. I’ve talked about the issue of poetry competitions before – and there are some fascinating comments here from both experienced compers and others who absolutely hate the whole poetry competition scene. So who (if anyone) winsRead more ⟶
Poetry magazine windows & comp deadlines coming up
*UPDATED 8-6-17* to include the Prole Pamphlet Competition, deadline 30th June. Windows It’s been a while since I checked submissions windows. I realise a few have just closed (e.g. The North – you have to be sharp-eyed to get in there!), but here are some that are currently open… Agenda – the website says it’s currently open, andRead more ⟶
Reasons to enter (or not) poetry competitions
Do you send poems off to competitions? If not, why not? OK we all know it’s ‘a lottery’. Nevertheless most of us would admit it’s exciting to actually win something. Or is it? I often debate this with poet friends and in particular the reasons not to enter comps. Let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments! Reasons toRead more ⟶
Quick 2016 submissions stats overview
I have a much longer ‘end of year’ post lined up but for now I thought I’d post a quick subs update for this year. 40 poems submitted to 11 magazines: 33 declined, 7 accepted (17.5%) by 5 magazines. 7 poems entered for competitions: 1 x 2nd place, 6 x ducks. 2 x poems includedRead more ⟶
Submissions windows open & poetry competition deadlines
Windows Just checking which magazines have re-opened their windows (must’ve been hot in there) and have found the following: The Stinging Fly is open until Aug 31st (postal submissions) or Sept 4 (via Submittable). Agenda appears to have been open since June 1st – the website says it’s still open, so jump in quickly! Ambit hasRead more ⟶
Post-TS Eliot Prize post, and a tale of two gaffes
The first two and a half weeks of January have been a bit of a poetry whirl (in the sense of lots of events) and although I’m now happy I’m a bit exhausted, not to mention in need of a reality-check catchup with, er, work stuff. Last week was the excitement of the T S EliotRead more ⟶
Three small press poetry competition deadlines coming up
Ah! Poetry competitions. Love ’em, hate ’em? It helps when you win something occasionally, admit it. Sadly, the stats are against us, but would we have it any other way? Who wants to be a winner if everyone else is too? And on the subject of probability, I just read that the British state lottery, orRead more ⟶
The poetry competition game
Perhaps that could be a poem title? Should I send it to the Poetry London comp, or is more of a Poetry on the Lake sort of title? Could I get some kind of double meaning out of ‘game’ in order to make it a nature poem and would it appeal to Simon Armitage when judging the Rialto comp?
(click on the title to read more… 602 words)