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Earlier this year I judged The Poet’s Workshop Poetry Competition. It attracted a large number of entries, so I thought I’d share some of my advice and insights with you. I hope you find them helpful and do leave any comments at the end. 

Read the guidelines very carefully

This might seem really obvious, but you’d be amazed how many entries fall at this first hurdle. Remember that your poem is being judged right from the point of entry and you need to give the judge every reason to select your poem, which also means every reason NOT to reject it; a submission not following the guidelines is the easiest way for a judge to whittle down their entries. The deadline for a competition is non-negotiable, so don’t think you’re somehow the exception. You must read the guidelines very carefully, you’d be amazed how many entries I had which hadn’t submitted the poems in the correct format or given me the right information in their email. When entering a competition every mark leaves a trace, and if someone can’t be bothered to read the rules, then what does that tell the judge about their approach to writing a poem? Generally speaking, competitions don’t allow simultaneous submissions, so I’d recommend not having your poems being considered elsewhere as this could lead to awkward conversations and difficult decisions further down the line, should your poem be successful. 

Draft Your Poems

It’s so important that the work you’ve submitted has been drafted and crafted. Reading so many entries, the judge can tell very quickly whether a poem has been refined and worked on, or slung in on a wing and a prayer. There should not be a comma out of place. You have to remember that judging a poetry competition is as much an exercise in comparison as it is anything else i.e. the judge is comparing one poem against another, until they have found the five, then three, then 1 out of the whole batch which comes out on top. Ask yourself: how will this poem compare to other poems? What makes this poem stand out? What is its point of difference? 

Understand the Nature of a Poetry Competition

There are many fine and wonderful poems by many fine and wonderful poets which would not win poetry competitions. Poetry competitions are ruthless affairs. A prize-winning poem has got to be like a high-pedigree race horse which comes flying out of the blocks. Bear in mind the context of the judge, who has been given hundreds of poems to read, and therefore must make fairly quick, ruthless decisions such as: is this first line a cliché? Is this title catching my eye? Do I want to return to this poem for more? Is that a grammatical error? When you enter a competition, be aware that it’s just a different process from submitting to a journal. 

Title and First Line: First Impressions

Think very carefully about your title and first line and how they will catch the attention of the judge. Will you go for something ostentatious? Something clear and startling in its simplicity? Something shocking? Something downright weird? Whatever you do, make it distinctive - and how do you do that? Well, editing and crafting, and there’s no easy way of doing that, and there’s not simple route or shortcut to that.

Read

There is no substitute for having read widely and deeply, canonical poems and contemporary poems. Read with a view to understanding how poets go about structuring their poems, and think about the hundreds of decisions taken by a writer in crafting even a small poem which is capable of standing out, and more importantly, standing the test of time.