OPEN POETRY COMPETITION
judged by Louis de Bernières
Louis de Bernières is noted internationally as an award winning novelist, but writing poetry was his original vocation. ‘I think of poetry as my original vocation –novel writing somehow grew out of it.’ Poetry was an integral part of his upbringing -his mother being a devotee of Rupert Brooke’s poetry while his father quoted Shakespeare and wrote poems. Louis de Bernières is preparing three poetry collections for publication and his latest book, Notwithstanding: English Village Stories, a collection of short stories, is published at the beginning of October.
This Link to Louis de Bernières' website opens in a new window.
THE JUDGING PROCESS
The judging of any writing competition is, to a certain extent, subjective, all readers having their likes and dislikes, but we hope our multi-stage judging process diminishes the chance of 'gems' falling through the net.
This is what happens after your entry is received:
- On arrival an entry is logged in and given a competition number by which it is identified throughout the judging process. This anonymity ensures every entry an equal chance.
- STAGE 1. THE MODERATOR
The Moderator is someone 'in the know' about the writing process- a local author, poet, teacher, playwright etc. The Moderator reads ALL the entries as they arrive - gives a short comment and awards a mark. - STAGE 2. THE 'LAY' READERS
The lay readers are any author's bread and butter - the people who buy and read poetry - and each reads a pack of approx. 20 entries.
Once Stage 1 is complete entries are put into packs in numerical sequence e.g. Pack 1 would have entries No.1, 21, 41 etc. This ensures different readers for writers with more than one entry.
The readers choose their top 3 stories (+ any runners-up) and grade the pack. These placings are translated into marks. - STAGE 3. THE LIST
The marks of the Moderator and Lay Reader are added together to arrive at THE LIST 1 - mean scores being set to determine those making the short list, with the award of a Certificate of Distinction, and those receiving Merit.
If your entry is to be awarded a certificate you will be informed by September 30th. and invited to the Adjudication & Award Ceremony, which forms the finale of the Mere Literary Festival in October. - STAGE 4. THE FINAL ROUND
The short list is sent to the Senior Judge who will determine the final awards and announce the results at the Award Ceremony.
All adult entries go through the above process. Once that is complete local
entries are similarly sorted for judging by the local judge in a separate competition.
You will see that this is quite a lengthy process to get through in a few months
and why we appreciate entries being sent in as early as possible.
1Any serious anomaly between Stage 1 & 2 is looked at and, if necessary, entries are read again.