Reminder: Poetry Contest at Crown

[Suzanne Metzler <SMETZLER/0002152178@MCIMAIL.COM>]

Poster: Suzanne Metzler <SMETZLER/0002152178@MCIMAIL.COM>

This is a reminder to all you poets and poet wanna-bes that there will
be a Poetry Display and Competition at Spring Crown Tournament in
Black Diamond, on May 1, 1999, sponsored by the Poeta Atlantiae. All
Poems should have the following theme: "Courtesy On Or Off The Tourney
Field."  I will post the time of the competition after I confirm it.

Below are the specifics for both the display and competition 
and answers to some questions I have been getting about structure 
and documentation.

Hope to see lots of entries and that even if you are not entering the
display or competition, you will come by for the performances.

Tehair MacDiarmada/Sue Metzler
Poeta Atlantia
suzanne.metzler@mci.com
H:(301) 474-3344 

************************
POETRY DISPLAY: The Poetry Display is open to anyone who: (i) would
like comments on their work but is not yet ready or interested in
entering competitions, or (ii) has additional pieces to display beyond
what is entered in the Competition. The themes of the poems in the
Display should be Period or SCA-Related (as defined below). There is
no performance requirement for entering the Poetry Display nor maximum
amount of poems that may be entered. Please provide one hard copy or
the poem and any documentation (and one disk copy in either Word or
Word Perfect format for inclusion the Atlantian Book of Verse.) This
is an excellent chance to display works in progress, try a new style
or get some pointers on documentation or style.

POETRY COMPETITION: There will also be a Poetry Competition with two
Classifications of entrants: Novice (those who have entered less than
three poetry competitions ever or who have been writing poetry for
less than one year) and Open (those who have entered more than three
poetry competitions ever or who have been writing poetry for more than
one year). (Those who meet the technical definition of "Novice" may
choose instead to enter their work in the "Open" Classification).
There will also be two possible Categories in which to enter: (Period
and SCA-Related). A winner will be chosen for each Classification and
Category.

1. The theme of any entry in either Category must be related to
"Courtesy On Or Off The Tourney Field." All entries must be performed
(as well as being submitted in written form - - please provide two
paper copies of the poems and docuemtnation and a disk copy in either
Word or Word Perfect format for the Atlantian Book of Verse). There
should be an attempt at period style and imagery for poems in either
Category. Each entrant may only enter in one Classification and one
Category, although entrants may enter additional poems in the Display.
Please provide documentation, though it need not be extensive. Joint
entries are permissible (but both entrants need to be in the same
Classification and Category, indicate clearly who did what, and both
need to share in the performance).

2. The Period Category shall consist of poems using period content,
style, imagery and presentation set within our historical era only.
(For purposes of this competition, "our era" is defined as pre-1600,
but please use judgement with regard to what of ancient history was
known in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.)

3. The SCA-Related Category shall consist of poems related to SCA
topics, but material must be presented with period content, and in a
period presentation and style. No obviously post-period materials are
acceptable in this competition. (In other words, your poem about how
the king lost his crown at Sears (or filk song set to the tune of
Oklahoma) may be very funny but it is too obviously modern.)

4. No single piece may last more than ten minutes of performance time,
inclusive of introductions. Introductions should be short and concise,
but should include sufficient documentation. (This time limit is due
to constraints in the schedule and we hope to keep things moving.)

5. Each entry will be judged according to (i) use of period imagery,
(ii) use of period style and conventions, (iii) complexity of the
piece, (iv) documentation, (v) skill in performance, (vi)
entertainment value, and (vii) overall impression. Please note that
the poem itself, its documentation and your performance of the poem
will all be weighed equally in determining winners. 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Question 1 <<Um, the two categories are strangely defined.  If you want the
<<parenthetical remark after Open to be anyone not qualifying for Novice, it
<<should be and instead of or.  But will you allow someone who would qualify
<<for Novice to enter the Open competition?

Answer:  
    What I was trying to say is the following: Novices are one of two
types of people: 1) They have entered less than 3 poetry competitions
ever *or* 2) they have practiced their art for less than one year
(either 1 or 2 qualifies them don't need to meet both criteria).
"Open" category is for: (1) everyone who does not meet the definition
of Novice and (2) for "novices" who prefer to compete generally and
not just with other novices. The point of the difference in
classifications was to give people new to the poetic arts a chance to
feel more comfortable in their first experiences competing (i.e.
compete against people who are in the same experience level as they are). 

Qustion 2) <<Okay, first silly question...I've been in 3 poetry contests in the SCA and
<<countless ones mundanely.  The problem is that only 2 of them included a
<<performance portion to the grading process (and that's actually counting the
<<mundane ones, though I have done a mundane poetry reading of my work which
<<would be a third performance, though not graded).  Which class am I
<<considered to be in?  

Answer: 
    You should be in the "Open" class.  The "Novice" class really is
for those who have rarely entered competitions.  Despite your entering
only 2 competitions with performance portions to the judging, you *have*
entered at least 3 in the SCA so you have an understanding of what
is entailed.  The point of the Novice category is to ease in those
who are new to poetry and help them be judged against other novices.

Question 3) <<OK. How detailed would you like the documetation? Footnotes? Just
<<a reference list? This is a large poem-the text alone is more
<<than half-a-dozen pages long.

Answer:
    As part of the competition you will be scored on the quality of your
documentation.  (Your poem, its documentation and your performance all
count equally in the competition.)

While "lite" documentation is okay, you should do the amount of
documentation that you feel represents the amount of research and
effort you spent. For example, the Poeta Atlantia competition
requirments listed "lite documentation okay." I submitted an original
poem that was 4 pages long single spaced in columns). I submitted
documentation that was also 4 pages long (single spaced) with footnotes and a
bibliography. Additionally I submitted a copy of the first 7 sections
of the original poem from which I modeled my poem (since it was
important to the poem that they understand that the structure followed
the original but with SCA themes). However, in my description I
explained how the structure was similar. While I had detailed documentation,
it was appropriate for what I was doind with the poem.

For the competitions I will be sponsoring, documentation should
*always* be more than just a reference list. It should also not just
be a bunch of poems you copied that you submit without a written
explanation of how/why you used them as models (for style, themes,
structure,etc.) for your poem. Documentation *should* be a description
of what you did that was period, in what way you differed from period
poems and why you made the change. (The point is to show that you did
some research and you know what is period even if you choose not to
follow a period convention, etc.). (For people who feel a little overwhelmed by this, there is always the
Poetry Display in which to enter work and get comments about how to
document it.)

For more information on this topic, I recommend you go to the A&S
Handbook on-line and read the articles on documentation you can get
to this site from the Kingdom of Atlantia homepage.) I also recommend
you take the class "Poetry for Competitions" in the poetry track 
at Kingdom A&S/Miniversity (July 10) which goes into some detail about 
how best to provide documentation and performance tips for Poetry Competitions.


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