THE 2014 AW POETRY REVIEW CONTEST

poetinahat

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It is my great pleasure to announce

THE 2014 ABSOLUTE WRITE POETRY REVIEW CONTEST

What It’s About

By no later than Saturday, I'll present a list of links to several poems by a currently active poet. You'll write a review. You can choose one or more, or review all of them as a body of work.

Provide some insight and analysis into the poem(s) you select, on their own or relative to other poems.

The idea is to shed light on the poem(s) and engage the reader. The aim might be to help the reader understand the poems, to learn something about poetry or poetry criticism, or to entertain. It's up to you.

The review can be in any format you like: an essay, article, critique, even a poem. As with any review or crit, how you go about it is completely up to you. Opinions, ratings, technical analysis, interpretation, personal connection to the work - all available to you, but not required.

So, you don't need to know your jargon. The poems are free verse.

I've posted some links to articles on poetry criticism and analysis in the Discussion thread.

The Prizes

Winners will choose in order from the following prize list:
  • The Ode Less Traveled, by Stephen Fry
  • The Lords. The New Creatures - the original published poetry of Jim Morrison (secondhand; directly from me to you)
  • A Poet's Glossary, by Edward Hirsch
  • Trout Fishing in America, by Richard Brautigan

If there are fewer than four entries, then I'll give the leftover prizes to myself.

How It Works

The poem links are posted in the main Poetry forum, here.

There is a separate thread for contest discussion, here.

You'll have four weeks to write your entries. See How to Enter for details.
The entries will be posted, anonymously, in the Chapbook subforum.
There will be a two-week reading period before voting opens.
There will be a two-week voting period.

Winners will be announced as soon as possible after voting closes; I expect that to be two days.

After the winners are announced, I'll post the usernames for each entry.

I will not post the full results. However, if you would like to know how your entry fared, I'll be happy to tell you by PM.

Important Dates

I'll update this section with the actual dates once I've posted the poem links. ALL DATES ARE US EASTERN STANDARD TIME.
  • Poems Posted - September 19, 2014
  • Entries Close - midnight, October 17, 2014
  • Voting Opens - November 1, 2014 NOW
  • Voting Closes - midnight, November 14, 2014
  • Results Announced - ETA November 16, 2014

The Rules
  • Entrants and voters must be members of AW in good standing as of September 18, 2014, and remain so during the contest.
  • Limit one entry per member.
  • Recommended maximum five hundred words per entry. Minimum one word. The maximum is only a recommendation; write as many as you want, as long as it fits in an AW post. Just a suggestion: think about how long the reader/voter will want to read.
  • Entrants *must* vote to be eligible for prizes.
  • Yes, you can vote for your own entry.
  • Entries will be posted exactly as submitted – except that they will all be posted in the same font. No graphic images will be permitted. I will not proofread, edit, or reformat the entries.
  • Limit one three-line vote per AW member (see How to Vote).

How to Enter

Using AW's private message (PM) function, send your entries to me (poetinahat) by the date listed below.

Titles are recommended but not required. If your entry does not have a title, it will be given a generic title, e.g. "Entry #4".

How to Vote

After voting is open, send me your vote. Do it before the end date.

Vote for your top three favorites, in order. Votes *must* list three entries to be counted.

In the subject line of your private message, type VOTE: Poetry Review Contest.

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

6) The Fount of Cosmic Sands [first-place]
2) Entry #2 [second-place]
11) Iamb What Iamb [third-place]


Counting the Votes

First-place votes = 3 points
Second-place votes = 2 points
Third-place votes = 1 point

The entry with the most points wins. Top four entries win prizes.

REMEMBER: Votes must list three entries, as shown, to count.

Any questions?

Post them in this thread, or PM me. I may post your question, along with the answer and a thank-you, in this thread.

And with that, I formally wish you a fun, rewarding contest. Thank you!
 
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poetinahat

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Links to the poems will be up by Saturday - just confirming with the poet.
 

Kylabelle

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I'm looking forward to seeing the poems. Thank you for organizing this!
 

poetinahat

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The poem links are up, and the contest dates are updated.

Critics, start your engines.
 

poetinahat

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Reminder: one entry per member.

Also, the poems are published, so you can treat them as finished.
 

poetinahat

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Four days and a bit to go! Home stretch time!
 

poetinahat

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A clarification about word count:

question said:
I see a recommended max word count of 500. What manner of leeway, if any, is available without disqualifying the piece?

I won't count the words, as long as the entry will fit physically within an AW post. (I think that limit is something like 10,000 words; I'll check.)

The word count is meant to be a guideline - an arbitrary gauge of effort, but not a goal or a constraint. (Also, perhaps, a guess as to what might play best with the voters, who I hope will be reading a number of reviews.)

Please include all the words you like.
 

Kylabelle

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Under the wire.

:D
 

poetinahat

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ONE DAY LEFT TO ENTER!
 

poetinahat

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SEVEN POINT THREE MORE HOURS
 

William Haskins

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Beaker_zpsjdfzwpzo.gif
 

poetinahat

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The entries are posted here.

And we're off!
 

poetinahat

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VOTING IS OPEN NOW

With a small but select group of entries, reading them all is not an arduous task. So let's get it on.

Remember:

1) Votes *must* list THREE entries, in order

2) If you entered, you *must* vote to be eligible to win.
 

poetinahat

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How much longer do we need to keep voting open?

It's been nearly a week, and I've received three votes, which means I can't even award all the prizes. I wonder whether keeping the polls open for two and a half weeks will help.

Come on, folks - have a read and vote. The entries are well worth your attention!
 

Ambrosia

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Rob,

Since your original post said the voting would remain open till November 14th, I think you should keep the voting open. A person who is busy on a project and offline but planning on voting would be disappointed to find the voting ended early. And it gives more time for those procrastinating to get their acts together and get their votes in.

I am having horrible Internet connectivity problems, but managed to send my vote in a few minutes ago. Whew!
 

CassandraW

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I'm sorry -- I have every intention of voting, but thought the voting was continuing until November 14th, which is why I wasn't rushing.

(FWIW, I think that when there's a stated deadline, many of us will tend to put off responding until that deadline approaches.)
 

CassandraW

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OK. I've voted.

But I'd suggest keeping the contest open until the original date. I'd also suggest that wherever you put the "Vote in the Contest" reminders (I've seen them in several forums), you prominently flag the deadline date. (And if you change the deadline, definitely do that.) People see a date looming up, and it spurs them to action.

FWIW, I have much experience trying to herd teams of people to meet deadlines, and I've found that 95% of people will meet whatever deadline you give them in the last 24 hours, and rarely earlier.
 

poetinahat

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This was part of the plan to stir up some interest. With a couple of exceptions, the line went dead on this contest weeks ago, and it's somewhere between disappointing and humiliating.
 

William Haskins

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you have no reason to feel humiliated. it's a reflection of the illusory nature of AW's poetry community, not of you.
 

Magdalen

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How much longer do we need to keep voting open?

It's been nearly a week, and I've received three votes, which means I can't even award all the prizes. I wonder whether keeping the polls open for two and a half weeks will help.

Come on, folks - have a read and vote. The entries are well worth your attention!

fucking sad.

Voter apathy strikes again??

Even Johnny Rotten thinks it's important to vote, ya punk!!!

. . . suggest everybody votes, everybody should try to make the best of a bad situation, and for me I despise the entire shitstem because it is corrupt, but that corruption has only come about because of the indolence of us as a population. I'd get into Westminster if I need a new apartment.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/live/2014/oct/10/john-lydon-webchat-anger-is-an-energy

I've done all you've asked (& more) still I get no respect. Re-re-re-re-re, etc.





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Kylabelle

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I agree you have no reason to feel humiliated, not at all, Rob!

But I don't think it's correct to describe the poetry community as illusory. Thin, maybe, and often relatively inactive surely, but there's *something* there! That something does deserve nurturing.

Also, yeah, deadlines are kind of... well, like Cassandra said.

So, keep the voting open please?
 

poetinahat

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Sure, why not.

Just an idea so that the people who are actually paying attention don't have to wait for no reason.

The long voting period was set assuming we'd have a couple dozen entries at least. With eight, it seems excessive - worse, kills any buzz there was.

You have until November 14 as originally posted.