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Sharon
Spencer
Top
100 Poets 2004 Edition £3,000
Winner: Angela Cheyne Buy
This Book
£8.99
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Forward Press
Top 100 Poets
Sharon Spencer tells us all about being a judge of this year’s competition for the first time and why it has been anything but a simple
task.
Before I begin, let me introduce myself to you. My name is Sharon and I am a member of the Communications team here at Forward Press. Working in the Communications department is as exciting as it is varied. Every day presents us with a different challenge, our creative skills are actively stretched, and meeting the demands that are made upon us can be a most rewarding experience.
This last year has proved to be my annus mirabilis, because I am especially privileged to be involved in the judging process of the
Top 100 for the first time.
As you know, the Top 100 is an annual competition that we administer, which is now in its sixth successful year. The competition runs from November to October of the following year, and in an economic climate where everything costs money, it is absolutely free! There is no entry fee, annual subscription, or tedious form to fill out.
Top
100 Poets of 2004 Prize Winners
List 
We are immensely proud that not only do we offer poets the opportunity to see their poems published, but also a chance to be awarded for their contribution. Each and every year, 100 poets share over £10,000 in recognition of their poetry, and the top 3 prize winners receive 25 copies of their own work in our Slim Volumes book format at no cost to themselves. How many other poetry competitions can boast that? Not forgetting that the copyright remains with the poet, and that it is also a marvellous medium to showcase the work of up and coming new talent.
Initially we ask poets to send up to two poems with a line limit count of 30. These could be for one of the numerous themes we run or on any theme and in any style depending on the poet’s preference. When they arrive, the poems are sorted, recorded, then filed away until the editors in the imprints are ready to edit them. Whereupon exercising the utmost professionalism and dedication, they carefully sift through the entries to find the poems most suitable for publication. All poems that are published by the Forward Press imprints are considered for the Top 100 Poets award. As they are selecting them for anthologies, our editors will put forward the poetry they consider most commendable for the shortlist. There are usually a minimum of 3 from each anthology to be published, shortlisted in such a way. When these poems are all collected together at the end of the competition year, the panel of judges which is made up of editors and directors of Forward Press get to work choosing the final 100 winning poems.
If I had thought this was going to be a simple task, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The judges meticulously and
painstakingly read and re-read all the poems giving them marks from 1 to 3. One is given for excellent, 2 for very good and 3 for good. In order to ensure that the judging process is a fair one, and that the winning poems are selected on merit alone, poems are read blind. That is to say the names and addresses are removed. Bearing in mind that by this stage the poetry being judged is of a high calibre, the cream of the crop as it were, marking them is no easy feat. However, once this has been achieved, the marks are added together and the poems are filed in accordance with the marks given.
You could be forgiven for concluding that the judging was all done and dusted at this point in time, but in actual fact it is only just the beginning. If all the totals were different then it would be possible just to sit back and pick out the Top 100 poems that merited an award. However the reality is that a high percentage of them have exactly the same scores, and that picking the Top 100 poems is a very formidable undertaking indeed. That is why it is not always feasible for us to announce the winners as punctually as we would like. The judges strive to reach the fairest determination possible, and realising this goal takes time. After all there is a tremendous amount of prize money and prestige at stake, we owe it to the poets shortlisted to be extremely diligent in our quest for the Top 100 Poets.
So armed with the file of potential Top 100 prize winning poems, the judges embark on the last and most arduous phase of the competition. Serious debate and animated altercation ensues as they advocate the work they deem most deserving of an award, until they are all agreed and the Top 100 prize winners list is born.
As well as notifying the prize winners of their success, Forward Press send Press Releases to the media i.e. newspapers and radio stations with details of the winners in their locality. Quite often the media will contact us via telephone to arrange interviews with the winners local to them.
Ultimately with everything to play for and nothing to lose, in my opinion, the Forward Press Top 100 Poets is probably the best poetry competition around!
Top
100 Poets of 2004 Prize Winners
List
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