CAT WOODWARD

For several years now, I've worked as an assisstant judge (also known as a 'sifter', or 'reader') for a major poetry prize, and I've worked on some other poetry competitions besides. I see the entries first and decide what goes through to the next round. I've seen thousands of competition entries and I know what gets picked and what doesn't.

A guide to submissions, cover letters, and etiquette. You've written a poem. You've worked hard on it, developed it, polished it, now it's ready to be submitted. But how do you actually do that? I've done lots and lots of submissions over the course of my writing career, and this is how it's done.

Constructive approaches to take; useful questions to ask. Editing. Not fixing typos or cleaning up commas. Editing. In other words, transforming, developing, growing a new, adolescent poem. It's hard to know where to start, especially if you don't have a workshop group or a tutor.

In my years as a mentor, there have been some pieces of advice that I find myself giving again and again. Usually I give this advice to new poets, because it relates to essential difficulties that hold them back from progressing. But it’s not always new poets, often this advice is relevant to more experienced poets too. No one is too far along to have a stumbling block, and blocks are tough to see with only one pair of eyes.