And the Winners...Aren't

On my last post a commenter asked how I manage to win so many competitions.

I replied that you have to enter to win, which is a bit of a disappointment. I mean that's kind of obvious, isn't it? Still, people often overlook it. How can I be jealous of people for getting published in this magazine and that when I haven't even submitted? I can't. Not reasonably anyway.

That said, this is my blog. So obviously everything is a bit one-sided and biased. For example, let's see how many times I've posted about not winning/placing in a competition....

Not once.
(small margin of error here - I might possibly have posted once or twice)

So this post is about all the competitions I haven't won (kind of a difficult feat considering I like to block out these rejections of my work, but I'll work from what I do remember).

Firstly: Foyle Young Poets Competition. I entered in 2010 and 2011 and I did not receive a thing - not even a special mention. Then there's my story Wizened, which I really like. I entered a fantasy writing contest with it and got...nothing. Then a special secondary-schools story competition in the Clare Champion with the same story. Once again, nothing.

Those are the reasons I then decided to focus on my poetry. Even so, I didn't get a thing in Cuisle this year. You can submit up to three poems and I submitted three. None on par with Creation and Evolution I guess.

That's all I can remember off-hand that I have entered but haven't won. Like I said, my mind blocks out losing.

P.S. Lovely bit of graffiti, that, isn't it? These pictures were part of the final result of a photography course we took in school.

And the Winners Are...

I didn't mention it here, but Visit Woods and the WWF were running a short story competition called the Big Forest Story Picnic. The theme was to be about the forest and the woods, and simply to do with conservation I suppose. I forget the exact parameters if there were any. Anyway, the winners have finally been choosen after a month's extension on the announcement date. And, I have won the sixteen and under section. See below :)

{Edit 2014: This can no longer be viewed online. VisitWoods began in 2008 with the aim of bringing together information about woods that are open to the public and inspiring people about visiting woods. The project was funded by the Big Lottery Fund (administered by Natural England) for 5 years and came to an end on 31st December 2013.}

I win free books. If I had one the older age category it would have been a Kindle, but I suppose I will have to live with ten books of my choice. Heehee...

In addition, you might recall a competition I did mention here, which was the Concern Creative Writing Competition. I have been told recently that my entry (short-listed as I found out) is to be included in the Concern Creative Writing Competition book, which will be published by Liffey Press. Last year I got nothing, so as you can see I am slowly scaling the steps to the top.

Cuisle Time Again

Believe it or not, it's Cuisle time again! Seems like it was only - a year ago that I was entering last year's competition. Oh wait, it was a year ago!
Anyway, if you're under eighteen, I would strongly suggest entering. I mean, how many other poetry competitions give out trophies? Trophies.
The details are below.


Limerick City International Poetry Festival 12-15 Oct 2011
YOUNG POET OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 


Cuisle Young Poet of the Year Competition would like you to write a poem or three poems. This or these Poems can be about anything, anything that matters to you, things that happen in your life: special occasions or everyday events. 

This competition is promoted by Cuisle, Limerick City International Poetry Festival. Winners will be invited to read during our festival in October and prizes will be awarded at a special award ceremony.

Start writing now! Send us your poems. We look forward to reading them.




RULES OF COMPETITION

• Entries for Cuisle Young Poet of the Year Competition 2011 may be on any subject and not more than 30 lines.
• Entries are invited in 3 CATEGORIES: 
Category 1: Poets aged 8-12: under 12 on 1st September 2011 
Category 2: Poets aged 12-15: under 15 on 1st September 2011 
Category 3: Poets aged 15-18: under 18 on 1st September 2011 
• Entries are welcomed in both Irish and English. 
• Entries should be submitted typewritten on A4 pages. 
• The name and address of the poet must NOT appear on the manuscript. 
• Entrants may submit up to 3 poems, EACH with a completed Entry Form. 
• Poems must be submitted by 14th September, 2011 at the latest. 
• Each entry must be the original work of the poet, must not have been published or broadcast previously nor already submitted elsewhere for publication. Entries will not be returned. 
• Entries must be submitted by post to:
Cuisle Young Poet of the Year Competition 
Arts Office
Limerick City Council 
City Hall 
Merchant’s Quay 
Limerick 
• Entries will not be accepted by email. 
• Please mark envelope(s) Cuisle Young Poet of the Year Competition. 

 • Prizes will be awarded in each category. 
• Winners will be notified in October, 2011. 
• Winners will be announced at the Cuisle International Poetry Festival 12-15 October 2011, and will be invited to take part in a special Cuisle Awards Ceremony in Limerick. 


For further information on any of the events contact: 
Competition Co-ordinator: Bertha McCullagh. Tel: 085 7593265 
The Arts Office: Tel. 061 407363 


Entry forms may be downloaded from www.limerickcity.ie or www.meta.ie  (here is a link to a printable pdf entry form - the details are also on the pdf)

Entry forms also available from Schools, Colleges, Libraries and Belltable Arts Centre at Limerick Tourist Information Office: tel. 061319866.
Information and Application forms also on Poetry Ireland website www.poetryireland.ie/resources/competitions.php

For more information on the Cuisle Festival, the link is here.
For older poets, The Stony Thursday Book, a Limerick based poetry magazine, will also be published as part of the festival, but unfortunately submissions closed on the 12th of August. There is always next year however.

Don't you sometimes wish there was a hotline to the muse?

Do you ever notice that sometimes you wait for inspiration and it strikes you at exactly the wrong moment? Sometimes though, it is the perfect moment.
I often find that when I am writing for a competition, I cannot think of anything until right before the deadline. Occasionally this occurs directly after the deadline. I don't have a lot of stories to choose from to enter into competitions so I normally have to write something new.
Lately I have been waiting for inspiration for a certain competition. I had known about it for months and it has three themes. I eventually chose one and brainstormed. After a few weeks, I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I just couldn't see how to frame it. Then suddenly last week as I rode home on the bus in the scorching heat with no ventilation, it hit me. I knew exactly how I would begin it.
On Thursday I wrote the first 300 words. I stopped at a point I knew I could continue from. This morning I finished it. I am very proud of it. It is the first time I have written this way, with a plan and an idea of how things would go already set down. It was an interesting experience, and one that I liked.
Now I have just over 30 hours to edit it. :)

Incidentally I entered the competition last year also and my entry then was absolutely horrid. At the time I liked it but now I can see that it was nothing to be proud of. I directly contradicted myself in it. I think, or at least hope, that this one is different. The winner gets a net-book, second place a kindle e-reader, third place an MP3 player. Not bad, eh?
It's actually an article, not a short story, that you have to write but it's open globally to all ages so if you are interested, here is the link.

Working on Words

DD helped me cut down a synopsis (for a competition) from 643 words to 500 words. He was astonished that it could be done. I felt everything that was in the synopsis needed to be there, and worked well in the first place. But we did it.

Which brings me to a point I feel I should make. The misconception that writing short pieces rather than longer ones is easier.
It's not.
Sometimes it is harder.

I'm not saying that, for instance, writing a short story is harder than writing a novel. However, it has been said that novel writing is much easier than script writing.

Sometimes when a short story word limit is 1000 words it's easier than if it was 5000. But equally, if it was 2000 that might be easier than 1000.

I just think that a lot of people (mainly people who aren't writers) think that greater length is to be admired much more than lesser length as far as word count goes. I think it is unfair especially in flash fiction for example, which is really hard to write and yet has a very small word count (somewhere between 50 and 300 words).

At the same time, if you write a novel and it is too short to be publishable, sometimes it is excruciating to lengthen it.

EDIT (JUNE 2010) I was one of the runners up in the competition.

Advice About Writing Competitons

I was thinking today about submitting writing to competitions.

I currently have a story in a competition. The only problem is, I'm not organised at all, and I forgot not only when the closing date was, but also when they were supposed to notify the winners. So I am stuck with a story that I can't send out until I find out if I won the competition.

That's where my advice comes in. If you happen to be like me, I say wait six months after you have submitted the story, then it's probably okay to submit it somewhere else. Another option is to search the internet and try to find out when the notification date was. Or, you could Google your name (I read this in a writing magazine recently) and maybe the winners of the competition will be posted somewhere.

If you aren't conceited, and you're thinking, "I probably didn't win, anyway," think again, just to be sure. I know from experience, because I have the same poem published in two different books! That was a big oops. And now, I can only ever cite one of the books as being published in, just in case.