ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Hi ... I have been informed that a poem I entered into the ABC Far North comp. was the winner of week two of that competition and I have received a highly commended for a poem entered into the Queensland Bush Championships comp. I know that poems that have been competition winners are ineligible for entry into other comps. but what about pieces that have received a lesser award such as those above?
Thanks ... Wazza

you really have to check the conditions Wazza, I have three poems in comps that I would like to share but cannot let them out there in case they get a gong

Bob

If in doubt contact the comp organisers for a ruling.

What I mean Bob is that these poems did not win anything so may I use them in future comps.
Wazza

Hi Wazza, yep I reckon those would be ok. I always think that when they say 'won' they mean the first prize. I seem to remember one comp that mentioned that an entry mustn't have won any award at all, including HC's, but it was some time ago and I can't remember which one it was. It was stated pretty clearly though, there wasn't any ambiguity about it as I remember it.

Mind you having said that, the ABC one might be different, it hasn't actually been judged yet. You could win that one outright and that would take it out of most comps.

Oh and I forgot to say - CONGRATULATIONS!!

G'day Wazza,
Welcome to the club. It is always confusing to us all as competitions put it differently. When they say "not to have won a first place" that's clear but when they say "not to have won any award" I have taken this to mean any placing but then, as Leonie has pointed out, it could be taken as only applying to any first placing.

With respect to your two examples - the ABC Cairns is not actually a competition winner but a heat winner so it would be OK to enter (provided it doesn't take out the overall on the 17th as Leonie pointed out, then it would become a first prize winning poem). HOWEVER, as it has now gone on to the ABC Far North Website it runs into the other condition that most competitions have, i.e. "Must not have been published". This then leads to another confusion - do they mean published in hard copy, do they mean published for monetary gain... Then a further dilemma - does published for gain mean that it has taken out a 1st, 2nd or 3rd, been published by the competition organizer without payment but has received money as a prize. I think we are all in a quandry about one thing or the other and we have to go by our own principles and hope we do the right thing by other competitors. If I feel a confusion about whether one of my poems is eligible or not I do not enter it - consequently I have a fairly large heap of poems that have been binned that might have been successful if I had felt right about entering them elsewhere. That's just me - I feel once a poem has won somewhere then it has achieved its moment of glory and I am happy to let it rest from competitions (especially major ones) and if I have entered a poem in a concurrent competition and it wins in one I advise the other competitions (and sometimes they won't withdraw it even when asked) even though they may have said "at the date of entry" which again is confusing. That may be taken as the date an individual entry was submitted but I always take this to mean the closing date for entries in that competition.

I don't feel the same about 2nd, 3rd, HC or C poems, however. Sometimes I am sad that due to confusing rules and my own strict principles they too join the bin.

Regarding the Highly Commended award - the Bryan Kelleher in Melbourne won't accept any poem that has been commended in any way. (I checked this by phone) That wipes out a huge number of entries especially where competitions have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3 x Very Highly Commended, 3 x Highly Commended and then 3 x Commended. That's 12 poems less that can enter that competition just from one other comp alone. The B.K. do give very substantial prize money so that is probably why they impose such tough restrictions. Fortunately most other competitions are not so harsh re entry requirements.

It would be wonderful to have a supply of many hundreds of potential first prize winning poems so that every competition received only entirely new non-commended, non-web-published, non... etc. that would be so much more relaxing but...

Sometimes I have to wonder how competitions get any entries at all. Never mind - join in the confusion and try to do what is fair.
Cheers
Brenda

Just adding - on the positive side all these requirements do require that, if we want to continue to enter and be successful in competitions, we have to write more and more and hopefully better and better poems, so in the long run, the rules should lead to greater productivity and a higher standard of Bush Poetry coming from us all.

There's always a positive side.

Dear fellow writers, do keep on lifting the standard with your great poetic contributions. You are all winners for the gift of creativity that is yours and for sharing its produce with the rest of us.
Brenda

Dear Waz,

One thing about those rules in competition.. you should try your best to abide by them. If you get caught out entering poems that have 'won' your reputation will soon be mud and it is hard to come back from that. There is a current writer who is fast getting a rep for fudging just this rule. If I had any clot - I would be suggesting a new rule - that comps could refuse entry and poems with entry fees be returned.

Okay, thank you Leonie , Brenda and Zondrae for your advice and congrats. Very comprehensively covered but not definitive. I think that perhaps I may have to contact any comp. that I wish to enter and ask, if the situation arises.
Now that I check, that's what Bob suggested.
Thanks all for your help.
Wazza

You have to carefully study each competition's rules and never assume.

Not long ago I wasn't sure about the rules in a major competition so I sent a note with my entries asking the organisers to look at the rules in relation to one poem I had included and set out its history. There was no reply so I assumed the entry was OK.When I didn't get the feedback I asked for I rang the organisers who belatedly told me that they had put my entries aside to consider the question and then forgotten about them all!! Such is Life. On the other hand I wrote to the Bryan Kelleher to withdraw an entry and they actually phoned me to confirm and thank me.

Mal