How to Win a Poetry Competition: Tips from a Sifter

Don't know what a 'sifter' is? Read this blog first

Tip # 7

Some Don'ts

I see some strange things when I sift, and I’ve rejected poems for all sorts of weird, unexpected reasons. So here are a handful of things to avoid.

Don’t give me life advice

I see more than a few poems which are pretty much just extended versions of motivational posters, reminding me to live life to the fullest or to love with all my heart or something. That positivity is nice, but if that’s all the poem sets out to do then the result is very boring. A poem, certainly a prize-winning poem, must be more than a slogan.

Don’t try to manipulate me into selecting your entry

Entrants try to do this in a few ways, there’s:

• The Guilt Trip. I bet you’re not even going to choose this poem; don’t you feel bad for not picking me?

• Shock Tactics. Here’s a topic so edgy and authentic that only a heartless person could reject it.

• Pandering. I know what you want to see so here’s a poem that will push all of your buttons.

• And, in my opinion, the weirdest of them all - poems about how much of a poet the writer of the poem is, because I clearly need convincing.

No one appreciates being the object of mind games, so don’t waste my time playing them.

Don’t submit a short story pretending it’s a poem

There’s prose poetry and then there’s just plain prose. The sifter can tell the difference. When I see entries like this I assume that the entrants think they’re doubling their odds by submitting the same piece of writing to both fiction and poetry competitions. But this is never going to work, because judges aren’t so easily fooled. The prize is for poetry, not stories. End of.

Don’t use weird fonts

Typewriter font and cursive fonts like Bradley Hand are ones I see a lot, as well as good old Comic Sans. If you use one of these fonts it gives the strong impression that you’re leaning on the font to do much of the signifying work for you (and upon reading the poem, this always turns out to be the case). A good poem doesn’t need an edgy font to do the hard work for it. When I see a poem that’s in a weird font, it immediately predisposes me against it, so don’t disadvantage yourself. Stick to the old faithfuls: Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial, Calibri etc.

Don’t try to guess what topic the judge likes best

All judges and all sifters are different, there’s no telling what subject will interest us most, and it always feels weird when I get a poem that’s pointedly angling for me. To tell the truth, even we don’t know what subject will interest us most, great poems are forever blindsiding us. So, don’t waste time trying to be strategic with your subject matter, just enter whatever poem it is you want to enter, it might just be the one for me.

Don’t put your name on the submission

I can’t believe I have to say this, but somebody always does it. If you put your name on your prize entry then it is automatically disqualified, I won’t even read it. This is the worst reason why I reject poems and I hate doing it.

Don’t give up

Poetry competitions, especially the big ones, receive many thousands of entries, and so most of us who enter them will not be successful, even if our entries are of a very high standard. Still, the only way to stand a chance of winning a competition is to enter one. Every writer’s life is full of rejection and so we learn to be resilient. Try again next year. Anyway, everyone who submits to a competition is supporting poets and contemporary poetry, and that’s a wonderful thing, whether we win or not. I for one, will keep entering.

With that, good luck in all your writing endeavours, I hope you win that prize.

Cat Woodward

Looking for inspiration? Explore my poetry writing prompts and courses at The Poetry Master Class. Just click below.

Explore Prompts & Courses