AW POETRY CONTEST - ZIPCODE

Blarg

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Welcome to ZIPCODE, the latest poetry contest here at Absolutewrite.com.

We're going to run it pretty much like the last contest we had, so I'm going to cut and paste a lot of poetinahat's write-up of that contest's rules here.

What It's About

Write a poem about place. Is there or has there been or will there ever be a "there" there in your where, or anywhere? Hide it, embroider it, or lay it bare. Maybe you want to show us the black roots of your blonde hair? Or maybe you're sui generis and just don't care?

One thing for sure is no one will know it if you don't share.

People vote for their top three favorites. First-place votes get three points; second-place votes get two points; third-place votes get one point.

The poem with the most points wins.

The Prize

I will donate a copy of American Splendor and More American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar, as well as a copy of Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition by Henry David Thoreau and Jeffrey Cramer.

Steppe has generously offered to donate "A Legacy of Shadows" by David Lee, in paperback and "The Poems Of Marianne Moore" edited by Grace Schulman, new in hardcover.

Three places will be "paid out." First prize gets first pick, etc.

Rules

Entrants must be members of AW in good standing since at least October 15, 2011.
One entry per member.
Poems must be three hundred words or fewer.
Poems must be sixty lines or fewer.
There is no restriction or requirement on poetic form.
Poems will be posted exactly as entered – except that they will all be posted in the same font. No graphic images will be permitted. Please make sure your spelling and formatting are exactly as you want them before you submit the poems. I will not proofread or edit the entries.
All AW members in good standing since at least October 15, 2011, are eligible to vote.

Entrants are permitted to vote for their own poems.

Entrants must vote to be eligible to win.

How to Enter

Using the board's private message function, send me your original poem by December 15, 2011 at 11:59 PM US Eastern. (Know your time zones.) I will post the poems all at once and open the voting.

The poems will be both numbered and titled (if you submit without a title, it will be creatively called Untitled).

How to Vote

Once the poems are posted, you may send me your vote via PM – one vote per current AW member in good standing, also using the private message function.

The subject line of the PM should be VOTE: ZIPCODE Contest.

In the body of the message, include up to three votes in order of preference, from first to third. List both the poem number and the title. For example:

3. Peyton Place
7. Kill my Landlord
8. Strapping on the Couch

Voting will close at 11:59 PM US Eastern on December 30, 2011. Any votes received after that time will not count.

I will then post complete results with vote totals for every entry, and announce the winner.

If you win, we'll need a mailing address of course. Prize donators will either mail your prize to you or have it sent from an online distributor.

All right, then, Zippy -- get cracking and claim your place! Good luck!

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P.S.: All things considered, I've decided entries must be new unpublished poems only. Less hassles and questions that way for me and everyone concerned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTEST CLOSED and VOTING IS UNDERWAY!

Visit THIS THREAD in the Critique section to see the contest submissions!
 
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Blarg

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And Merry Christmas!

P.S.: If one of my donations isn't selected, I'm offering it (or similar) to the next contest's prize pool.
 

Ambrosia

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Just for clarity, a poem about a "place", but the "place" doesn't have to be a physical location? Is that right?
 

Blarg

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It can be a generalized concept rather than something you can find on Google Maps.
 

Nikki

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Oh, wow. I like this prompt. Hmmm...

(BTW, the poem I entered in last year's contest is coming out in an anthology soon!)
 

MysteryRiter

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Hi. I have a poem that would be perfect for this but it's going to be published in an online literary journal by the end of the month? Is it ok to have it here or are you seeking nothing that will be published elsewhere?
 

Blarg

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I'll talk to some board higher-ups here about that. You may have to be willing to prove your identity, so we don't get people submitting poems they didn't even write just for a lark. If so, it would be best to do so before the poem is published.
 

Blarg

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Things run largely on trust here, and will pretty much have to since I don't have a committee or army of interns vetting everything's originality. If it turns out I need to, there will be one less contest organizer and donator to be had in the future. I'm sure most people are happy to keep in the spirit of things. Please make it easy. Communicate what you need to with me so that everything's clear.

Worst comes to worst -- you write a new poem? Contests like this are pretty much prompts anyway.
 

CDSinex

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Using the board's private message function, send me your original poem by December 15, 2011 at 11:59 PM US Eastern.

Voting will close at 11:59 PM US Eastern on December 15, 2011.

As Kie pointed out, you have submissions and voting ending at the same instant. You might want to revisit that idea.
 

Steppe

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It seems to me that since this contest is not for big monies or prizes, we would be willing to come up with a brand new poem just for this contest.We are poets afterall and should except the challange of doing something really fun, whether we win or not.

The contest subject is rather broad and open to interpretation.
 

Isabella Amaris

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Things run largely on trust here, and will pretty much have to since I don't have a committee or army of interns vetting everything's originality. If it turns out I need to, there will be one less contest organizer and donator to be had in the future. I'm sure most people are happy to keep in the spirit of things. Please make it easy. Communicate what you need to with me so that everything's clear.

Worst comes to worst -- you write a new poem? Contests like this are pretty much prompts anyway.

Yup, will take this as a (long overdue) challenge to get back in the poetry game... I hope I produce something worth entering:) Cheers.
 

poetinahat

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For goodness' sake, people, it was a typo, and Blarg tried to respond with some sort of humor.

You want to snipe about typos? Donate your own prizes, like he did, and run a contest, like he is.
 
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poetinahat

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Hi. I have a poem that would be perfect for this but it's going to be published in an online literary journal by the end of the month? Is it ok to have it here or are you seeking nothing that will be published elsewhere?

I'll talk to some board higher-ups here about that. You may have to be willing to prove your identity, so we don't get people submitting poems they didn't even write just for a lark. If so, it would be best to do so before the poem is published.

There's also, as has been noted, the question of first publishing rights. That journal might be publishing the poem on the understanding that it's not been published before - and posting it in the contest might be a breach of that understanding.

Good question, and thanks for posting it!
 

Blarg

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All things considered, I've decided entries must be new unpublished poems only. Less hassles and questions that way for me and everyone concerned.
 

MysteryRiter

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Ok. I'll enter something different if I have time...