Poems Please Me Prize 2014
This is our third international competition
Judge: Anthony Watts
1. Closing date: 11.59 pm BST Sunday 14th September 2014. Results will be published by Poems Please Me and mailed individually to winners before 31 October.
2. Subject: this is an Open competition this year. The choice of subject is yours.
3. Language: English
4. Length: 12 to 40 lines (excluding title).
5. Prizes. First: £600 Second: £300 Third: £150 Highly Commended (number at discretion of judge and organiser): £30 each. Also: illustrations will be created of each winning and commended poem.
- The Artists’ Quarter (TAQ) will create a selection of digital art to illustrate the winning and commended poems. (A poem’s potential for illustration will not be a factor in the judging.) TAQ is a worldwide online community of digital and traditional artists led by the UK’s Tim Shelbourne. TAQ on Facebook.
- Winners of the top three prizes will receive a mounted print of the illustration of their choice.
- Winning and commended poems and TAQ illustrations will be published on Poems Please Me (in featured Poems, a Gallery & an e-Book) and by TAQ. Browse 2013 e-Book of winning poems and illustrations.
6. Copyright in all poems remains with the poet, and in TAQ artwork with the artist.
7. Original poems required, not published elsewhere prior to 1st November 2014.
8. Entry fee: £5 for one poem; £9 for two; £12 for three.
9. How to enter (online or post)
Online. First subscribe via PayPal: select £12, £9 or £5 from the drop-down menu, then click PayPal’s secure ‘Buy now’ button to subscribe by any credit/debit card – you don’t need a PayPal account. Your subscription will be acknowledged – automatically by PayPal, and later by the competition administrator when acknowledging receipt of your entry/entries.
Post. If you wish to pay by cheque and/or submit on paper please see No 11, below.
Next e-mail your poems (at any time over the entry period, together or separately) to: [email protected] – do include your real name (winners will have the chance to use a pen name, if they wish).
Easy to enter: your poems can be in the body of the e-mail OR attached as a single or separate Word document(s) or .jpg file(s). If sending attachments, list the poem title(s), along with your name, in the body of the e-mail. (No need to put your name on attached file(s) – we have to delete names to give the judge an anonymous printout.)
Multiple v. single entries: if you pay £12 for three entries now, you can send the poems together or separately at any time; if you pay £5 now, single entries sent later would also be £5 each – again to a limit of 3 poems.
10. No correspondence (unless answering an admin query from us). Entries cannot be amended prior to judging. Participants supplying an e-mail address will be informed of the results.
11 Postal entries. Each poem on one side of an A4 sheet. Your name and address on a separate sheet (if you wish, add e-mail address). Cheque for entry made out to H M French. Mail to this address: Poems Please Me, Knapp, Dunkeswell EX14 4RN (United Kingdom). If you supply an e-mail address, we will acknowledge receipt of your entry.
12 Multiple winner. In the event of a poet entering more than one winning poem, we will award two prizes to that one poet. (Most competitions limit entrants to a single prize, however good their poems.)
Poems Please Me Prize 2014
1st £600 2nd £300 3rd £150 + Highly Commended(s) £30
The Artists’ Quarter will illustrate winning and commended poems.
Printed, mounted copies of an illustration to the top three prizewinners
Judge: Anthony Watts has won prizes and commendations in numerous poetry competitions, has several collections published, and broadcast his work on the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme. 1. Profile of Anthony Watts. 2. Interview with Anthony Watts.
The Poems Please Me Prize was first awarded in 2011 & 2013.
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Poems Please Me Prize 2013
Results The poets and subjects represented several nations – the theme ‘Movement’ inspired poems dealing with the human reaction to Middle Eastern and indeed African terrorism, to memories, description, simple fantasy and being at one with the earth.
First Prize. Sara Khorasani. Dance of the earth
Second Prize. Annie Fisher. Photograph of Alice with Bubbles
Third/Highly Commended:
Colin Begg. Vancouver by Night
David Edwards. Rwanda
Yael Geva. Michal doesn’t like ants
Colin Rennie. Wind
Members of The Artists’ Quarter illustrated the poems. An added project resulted in an illustrated e-booklet of the poems. Sara Khorasani (First) received a canvas print of her choice illustrating her winning poem ‘Dance of the Earth’.
