Student Poetry Comp

Drum Roll Please…………….The 2012 Bard and Muse Student Poetry Competition has now been judged.

The standard was spectacularly high and we were inundated with entries (over 500) having advertised the competition through various magazines and campus sites. Given the difficulty in judging so many entrants (we only had 5 full-time judges and 10 helpers) we are finally confident in announcing the cream of the crop.

A note to all who entered; we changed the prize structure slightly since we felt awarding anyone poem ten times what the runners-up were getting was a little unjust. The winners have been notified and have duly forgiven us. We are, however, still giving the same amount of cash away. We are giving £500 to the winner, 2-5th place £100 each, £50 to five entries, £10 to ten entries and £5 to twenty entries. We felt this was more egalitarian and better represented the range and depth of the high-quality admissions we received. Please note; a similar prize structure is likely to be used for the 28/72012 competition.

And so without further ado…

First Place goes to Lisa Preston for Rendezvous at the Mercy Gate

Joint 2nd/3rd/4th/5th respectively…

Emma Dunkel, Lost Again. Daniel Wright, The Unknown Scholar, Linda Tarney, We Remember,  Jacky Purnia, The City Hasn’t Slept for Days

Occupying 6-10th respectively

John Cooper, Ode to the Gallows,  Liz Coleman, The Stranger,  Steve McLean, Buried or Lost?, Margaret Thompson, Hasn’t Hurt in Years,  Nicola Reynolds, When He Last Came Home

The £10 Runners-up…

Pete Griffin, Flying in the Dusk, Eva Turner, No Buttons Left, David Hooper, Dulce Let the Doorman Rest, Anne Greenaway, Objection, Natalya Ogvorod, 20 Million Dead, They Say, Janet Cleese, Did They Tell YOu About It?, Ashleigh Underwood, Cancer Chancer, Filippe Blumberg, Greenwich Meridian Time, Andrea Reyburn, Down Peckham Town, Letitia Marissobbo, Trains, Chains and Automobiles

And Not to be Forgotten’ the £5 Runners-up

Eliza Anatsui, Remembering the Old Adage in a Sea of Conflict, Hannah McCready Before the Rainbow, Rebecca Blease Occupy, Ruby Anne Red, Virginia Lee Wilkinson Craving, Madeleine Vaughan, Sonnet To, Michael Cupton Already Tried That, Prinsau Prisnha, Fun-Time, Debra Ballatyne, Daughter’s Orders, Tegan Nuttall, Dead Kelly

Bard and Muse will contact all winners and make appropriate payment later this week. To all those who did not make it, commiserations AND please do enter the 28/7/2012 competition

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Students are an essential class of people in society. The student voice is unique, not least because it is so often seen as being part of a collective voice where any student can represent all students. Students have a proud history of producing great literature, from protest writing to urbane fiction and academic research.Bard and Muse wants to challenge you all- prove that student poetry is alive and kicking.

The Theme; Conflict-in all its many poetic guises.

Student protests; student fees, student representation in the media. Grad schemes; A-level results; gap-year’s, exchange programmes; campus life; drugs. There is conflict throughout student life. Want to prove to the world that students can write brilliant poetry? Want to win a lucrative cash prize? Bard and Muse are looking for Conflict Poems written by students as part of their Songs of Conflict season.

These poems do not need to be about student life- they can be about anything- global issues, local issues,  war; love, hate, the weather, devolution; evolution. Anything at all in fact.  The only proviso is that an undercurrent of conflict exists in your entry.

Bard and Muse are welcoming poems of any genre and any style. A maximum of 50 lines per poem per entry should be observed. The closing date for submissions is September 15 2012. Send your poems to email@bardandmuse.co.uk. The winner shall receive £1,000 and ten runners-up £100.

It is intended that a subsequent anthology of the winning entries may be published later in the year. Any questions please contact email@bardandmuse.co.uk