ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

We have had several discussions about entering poems that have been published. What about poems previously entered.

It would seem to me that of you entered a poem in a comp, it would be bad form to enter the same one again in the same comp.
There is a big poetry comp being run in Sydney ( Blake Prize for Poetry ) , where the conditions of entry stipulate that a poem that has been entered before can be entered again, if it is amended.

Should we accept that a poem that has been amended has become a different poem ?

As for published work : if a poem is published , then amended in some way, then perhaps it can be entered in a comp, since it is no longer the same poem . Right ???

Maybe the rules are changing - Two that I've entered recently and queried whether the work was acceptable as it was on a site and they both said that was fine. Have taken both at their word

Can a poem be mended, and not be amended?
If it's amended, is it still the same?
Or is it a breach of the rules unintended?
Oh, it's a perilous, querulous game!

Good question Neville. I know if it were me, then I would consider the poem not up to standard if it doesn't finish in the placings or commendeds. If it did receive a place or a commended, then I would consider that the end of the poem's life as an entry in competitions.

But as a judge I have often seen the same poem emerge in different comps and this is where it really comes down to the integrity of the poet or the selection of the right poem into the right comp. For example, if you think you have written a masterpiece, then aim it at the Golden Damper or the Blackened Billy, not the Cow Creek Inaugural Bull and Dray festival Poetry Comp.

It is a strange condition (or non-condition!) that they place in their entry form, so I suppose it's within one's rights to do it, although most writers I know would aim to write something different and something superior to what they have failed with in the same comp in the past. May well be the same judge or judges anyway.

Neil

keats wrote:I know if it were me, then I would consider the poem not up to standard if it doesn't finish in the placings or commendeds. Neil

I don't think a poem which doesn't win a comp place is necessarily not up to standard.
Maybe not the sort of thing that appeals to poetry comp judges, but could be very worthwhile as, say, a performance piece or even could be accepted for publication somewhere else.
I think you would agree with me, poetry competitions don't always necessarily sort the gold from the dross. Perhaps to some extent, but only one can be the winner, and only a limited number can get recognition, there might be some that miss out that are equally good.

Perhaps at the poetry comp announcements someone could present a " salon de refusees "
read out some of the also-rans to keep up morale amongst writers
Just a thought.

No would not work Nev, Second is only the first loser after all.

If the judges gave a reasonable critique ( which in most cases we pay for ) you might have a chance of revamping a poem to give it a better chance in another comp but that is not always the case.


Bob

G'day Nevelle,

I keep a little book and note every competition and which poems I have sent in. Then I note if they happen to get a C or something. Sometimes I have sent the same poem into several competitions with no luck and then a gong of some type. I then have to keep a careful eye on the next few comps and send it in, by all means if according to the next comps rules it is still eligable, .Some comps say 'not having won first prize' or 'not having won a CASH prize.' and so on. Sometimes I flog one around comps for a year. If I think that it has some merit, until I find a judge who has similar taste to me. I have already mentioned the one that did no good until someone suggested I change one single word. And I did and it won the very next comp I put it into.