I’ve been thinking more about the parameters of this poetry contest thing (see previous entry if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Honestly I had no idea there were so many decisions to make until I started considering them. I do have most of the main ones figured out:
- What’s eligible: This one was easy and instantaneous – all subgenres of speculative poetry will be welcome – science fiction, fantasy, mythic, horror, scifiaku… whatever. Villanelle, tanka, freeform, minimalist … also whatever.
- Addendum: to make it even ground for all entrants, no previously published poems – though I’m not about to go checking, so this is on the honor system.
- Judging: This one was forced by considerations of reality: I’d have preferred a panel of judges to vote on at least a short list, and I know who I’d like to ask to be on that panel, but I have an extremely strong hunch that all of them are too busy with their own work to commit the time. So I will be sole judge, which may mean the result is subjective, but hey, it’s my money anyhow 🙂 I do actually like a wide range of poetry: not only the genres listed above but formal, freeform, imagist, minimalist….
- Theme: That decision was the fun part, actually.
- Timing: this decision was harder; I couldn’t decide how much time to allow people to write their poems until I turned it around: I will choose the due date and judging period to fit with our travel schedule, since we have a lot going on in the next couple of months.
- Length: since I have no idea how many submissions there will be, in self defense I will limit it to “short poems” by the definition used for the Rhysling contest: 0-49 lines.
There are at least two more decisions I need to make and haven’t yet:
- Who’s eligible: since the prize is an SFPA membership, it’s necessary to decide. Can current members get membership extended or should this only apply to new memberships?
- “Publication” and rights: Of course all poets will retain rights to any subsequent publication. But do I ask for poems to be submitted via email and publish only the winning poem (two, since there is a second prize of a Rhysling anthology) or do I ask for all poems to be submitted in comments here? The former has the advantage that poets who don’t win can then keep first publication rights; the latter probably means more entries and hopefully some “dialogue” as one poem inspires another. That sort of thing is a real joy to me, so right now I’m inclining to the latter approach, but haven’t decided.
Opinions on the undecided points are welcome. Reminders of any parameters I’ve missed will be received with extreme gratitude. Opinions on parameters already decided … are OK, but don’t expect to change my mind unless you have really good reasoning.