FINALS JUDGE: MICHAEL SYMMONS ROBERTS
Michael was born in 1963 in Preston, Lancashire, UK.
His poetry has won the Whitbread Poetry Award, and been shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize, the Forward Prize, and twice for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He has received major awards from the Arts Council and the Society of Authors.
His continuing collaboration with composer James MacMillan has led to two BBC Proms choral commissions, song cycles, music theatre works and operas for the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Welsh National Opera. Their WNO commission – ‘The Sacrifice’ – won the RPS Award for opera.
His broadcast work includes ‘A Fearful Symmetry’ - for Radio 4 - which won the Sandford St Martin Prize, and ‘Last Words’ commissioned by Radio 4 to mark the first anniversary of 9/11.
He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.
http://www.symmonsroberts.com/index.asp
Preliminary judge: Cristina Newton.
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Prizes
1st Prize £300
2nd Prize £150
3rd Prize £75
Four commendations (no cash prizes)
All three winning poems and four commendations will appear in the Battered Moons Poetry Pamphlet 2012
Fees
Each poem submitted costs £3, or £10 for 4 entries.
TO ENTER ONLINE visit http://www.batteredmoons.blogspot.com or http://www.batteredmoons.com
Postal entries should be sent to: Swindon Festival of Literature,Lower Shaw Farm, Shaw, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 5PJ with a cheque payable to Swindon Festival of Literature, or enter and pay online. Please write your name and phone number on the back of cheques.
General
~ Open to any UK residents aged 18 or over at the time of entering.
~ The closing date is 29th February 2012.
~ There is no limit on the number of entries a single entrant can make.
~ All entries will be considered anonymously. Michael Robert Symmons will then select the winners from the shortlisted poems. Preliminary judge Cristina Newton will read all the entries.
~ Postal entries will only be accepted when accompanied by an entry form (forms may be photocopied) and payment. One entry form may cover multiple entries.
~ Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
~ Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered.
~ Fees cannot be refunded.
~ If you would like confirmation that your postal entry has been received, please include a stamped addressed envelope/postcard marked ACKNOWLEDGEMENT with your entry.
~ Online entries made via the website will receive automatic confirmation at the time of submission.
~ The staff are unable to confirm the content of documents submitted online, so please ensure you send the correct file.
~ The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not award prizes if, in the judges' opinion, such an action is justified.
~ The judges' decision is final and neither the judges nor staff will enter into any correspondence.
~ Entry implies acceptance of all the rules. Failure to comply with the entry requirements will result in disqualification.
~ Results: All email entrants will receive an email notification of results. To receive a print version, enclose a stamped addressed envelope marked 'RESULTS'. Alternatively, check the website www.batteredmoons.com or http://batteredmoons.blogspot.com for details after May 2012.
Poems
~ All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length (excluding title and line spaces).
~ Entries must show no name, address or identifying marks other than the title.
~ Entries must be written in English and the original work of the entrant.
~ Entries can be on any subject.
~ Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on a website or broadcast before May 2012.
~ Handwritten entries cannot be accepted. Entries should be typed in black ink on A4 paper. Poems may span two securely stapled pages but pages must not be printed double sided. Please do not staple separate
entries.
Winners
~ Winners and commendations will be notified by 27th April 2012 and invited to an award ceremony at the Swindon Festival of Literature on 11th May 2012 where they will read their winning poems.
~ Prize winning poems and four commendations will appear in the Battered Moons Poetry Pamphlet together with a poem by each of the judges.
~ All winners will be asked to provide a biography and photograph that will appear with their winning poem on the Battered Moons website and pamphlet.
~ The list of prizewinners will be displayed on the website after the prize-giving ceremony at the Swindon Festival of Literature on 11th May 2012.
~ The copyright of each poem remains with the author. However, authors of the winning and commended poems, by entering the competition, grant Battered Moons the right to publish and/or broadcast their poem from May 2012.
BATTERED MOONS Poetry Competition
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
2011 Winners
Gavin Salisbury
Gavin Salisbury's publications include: Gravity's End (Hilltop Press, 1997), Europa (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2004) and The Mouths That Remain (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2007), all chapbooks of ‘speculative’ poetry; Virtual Landmarks (Flarestack Publishing, 2004), a collection of ‘mainstream’ poetry; and Foreign Parts (D Press, 2004), a chapbook collection of short stories. His first full-length collection of short stories, The Far Sense, appeared from Sam's Dot in October 2010. A science-fiction novella, Junction 5, appeared recently in the anthology Panverse Three from Panverse Publishing. Gavin is currently aiming to write more poetry, having concentrated on fiction over the last few years.
For more information on Gavin’s writing, art and music, please visit his website at http://gavin-salisbury.com.
****************************************************************************
Elinor Brooks
Elinor Brooks grew up in Edinburgh and now lives in Wiltshire. She studied at York University and teaches English and Creative Writing in a college of FE. Her poems have won several prizes and have appeared in anthologies, on the Big Screen and even on an adshel. This year she was accepted as a 'fledgling' member of the national network of women poets, 'Word Birds'. As an active member of Swindon’s BlueGate Poets, Elinor has enjoyed writing in collaborative projects with local artists and musicians. She recently read at Cheltenham Poetry Festival alongside Mimi Khalvati, as part of Blue Gate's Travellers Without Baggage performance. A recurrent theme in her poems is the imprint left in places by events that have happened there. Since being widowed, she has also explored themes of loss, bereavement and continuity.
A few of her poems can be read at http://thewordbirds.wordpress.com/read-our-poems/elinor-brooks/
****************************************************************************
Janice Booth
I’ve been involved in lecturing and practising Chinese medicine for the last 22 years and its underlying philosophy is often a prompt to my creativity. I also draw on family memories of growing up in East Anglia, trying painstakingly to capture those evasive memories and moments in time and thereby make them endure! And whilst I like to make harmony and order, the words I choose often touch the unruliness of emotion, the impossibility of stemming the flow of time.
Becoming a member of the Swindon Bluegate poetry group has proved an invaluable stimulus and support to my writing over the last 12 months.
****************************************************************************
Heather O'Neill
****************************************************************************
Michael Scott
Michael is a poet from Swindon and he knows it. Hear it in his own words: "I am a writer and poet from Swindon. I have performed all over the country but some of my favorite places are ;
Swindon Arts Centre
Hebden Bridge
Cheltenham Poetry Cafe
Poetry Cafe Covent Garden
Corsham Pound Arts Centre
Reading Poetry Cafe
I have run adult poetry workshops in Swindon and Bristol and work as a Koestler Trust mentor enabling a recently released offender to access local arts organisations and events. In 2011, I co-edited Domestic Cherry, a new women's poetry annual. I am also co-editing the 2012 Domestic Cherry and its brother title Builders Tea.
In 1964 I was born, some of my poems are about this
in 1999 I spent 6 months in rehab, some of my poems are about this.
in 2000 I went to live in Peru, some of my poems are about this
in 2004 my son was born, some of my poems are about him
I think that poetry is for everyone not a snobby elite
I won the 2011 Battered Moons Poetry Prize
I was placed second in the Irish 'Poets Meet Painters' Competition in 2011
My first pamphlet called 'Sick of Ape' is available from my website at
www.themichaelscott.co.uk "
****************************************************************************
Linda Snell
Linda says: “I'm co-founder of Corsham Poetry Society, which runs monthly 'open mic' sessions.
I have had poems published in Envoi, Equinox, Iota, The Interpreter's House & Obsessed with Pipework.
I won the Wiltshire county poetry comp, and was short-listed in the Grace Dieu comp in 2010. This year I won the Calne literary poetry prize & was short-listed in the international Live Canon poetry comp.
Last year I organized a poetry reading in the Pound Arts Centre auditorium & was joint MC. And I have just MC'd the 'erotica' set in Swindon at an event run by BlueGate poets.
I am very much interested in the sound of the spoken word - & in the quality of the presentation given by the poet in a live arena”.
***************************************************************************
Gavin Salisbury's publications include: Gravity's End (Hilltop Press, 1997), Europa (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2004) and The Mouths That Remain (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2007), all chapbooks of ‘speculative’ poetry; Virtual Landmarks (Flarestack Publishing, 2004), a collection of ‘mainstream’ poetry; and Foreign Parts (D Press, 2004), a chapbook collection of short stories. His first full-length collection of short stories, The Far Sense, appeared from Sam's Dot in October 2010. A science-fiction novella, Junction 5, appeared recently in the anthology Panverse Three from Panverse Publishing. Gavin is currently aiming to write more poetry, having concentrated on fiction over the last few years.
For more information on Gavin’s writing, art and music, please visit his website at http://gavin-salisbury.com.
****************************************************************************
Elinor Brooks
A few of her poems can be read at http://thewordbirds.wordpress.com/read-our-poems/elinor-brooks/
****************************************************************************
Janice Booth
Becoming a member of the Swindon Bluegate poetry group has proved an invaluable stimulus and support to my writing over the last 12 months.
****************************************************************************
Heather O'Neill
****************************************************************************
Michael Scott
Michael is a poet from Swindon and he knows it. Hear it in his own words: "I am a writer and poet from Swindon. I have performed all over the country but some of my favorite places are ;
Swindon Arts Centre
Hebden Bridge
Cheltenham Poetry Cafe
Poetry Cafe Covent Garden
Corsham Pound Arts Centre
Reading Poetry Cafe
I have run adult poetry workshops in Swindon and Bristol and work as a Koestler Trust mentor enabling a recently released offender to access local arts organisations and events. In 2011, I co-edited Domestic Cherry, a new women's poetry annual. I am also co-editing the 2012 Domestic Cherry and its brother title Builders Tea.
In 1964 I was born, some of my poems are about this
in 1999 I spent 6 months in rehab, some of my poems are about this.
in 2000 I went to live in Peru, some of my poems are about this
in 2004 my son was born, some of my poems are about him
I think that poetry is for everyone not a snobby elite
I won the 2011 Battered Moons Poetry Prize
I was placed second in the Irish 'Poets Meet Painters' Competition in 2011
My first pamphlet called 'Sick of Ape' is available from my website at
www.themichaelscott.co.uk "
****************************************************************************
Linda Snell
Linda says: “I'm co-founder of Corsham Poetry Society, which runs monthly 'open mic' sessions.
I have had poems published in Envoi, Equinox, Iota, The Interpreter's House & Obsessed with Pipework.
I won the Wiltshire county poetry comp, and was short-listed in the Grace Dieu comp in 2010. This year I won the Calne literary poetry prize & was short-listed in the international Live Canon poetry comp.
Last year I organized a poetry reading in the Pound Arts Centre auditorium & was joint MC. And I have just MC'd the 'erotica' set in Swindon at an event run by BlueGate poets.
I am very much interested in the sound of the spoken word - & in the quality of the presentation given by the poet in a live arena”.
***************************************************************************
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Thursday, 30 June 2011
BATTERED MOONS 2011
In association with the SWINDON FESTIVAL of LITERATURE
Battered Moons Poetry Competition 2011
Organising and co-judging the second Battered Moon Poetry Competition has been a
rewarding challenge and a privilege. There were over 150 entries, encouraging for a
competition in just its second year and offering no cash prizes. It was possible only
because of the generous effort of its supporters: Matt Holland as Artswords
development worker and Director of the Swindon Festival of Literature, co-judge
Lesley Saunders, registrar and advisor Hilda Sheehan, Mark Stopforth in his arbitrator
role. To all of them my admiration and gratitude.
But the real headliners are the people who sent their poems. These are, ultimately,
what Battered Moons is all about. However isolated and lonely your word-craft may
appear, you belong in this creative community, and we wanted to hear your voice.
You proved determination and courage in sending your poems for us to consider and
made the effort worthwhile. Thank you.
Among in the poems submitted, there were those that caught our attention for their
accomplished style. They brought language alive, grabbed our attention, had resonance
and staying power, conjured intense, vivid scenes and drew the reader into their world.
Their flashes of insight, invention and know-how made them memorable and invited
the reader to come back to them. We would like to share them through the publication
of this booklet. The order of the winning poems follows a personal reflection of how
they work best as a sequence. I sought some contrast between one poem and the next.
Appearances lent itself to opening the series, with its slower pace and breathing
spaces, and a very suitable title. I aimed at an alternation of pulses and style that
moved towards the rhythmic buzz of The Honeysuckle Corridor of Certain Doom,
sensing their arrangement almost as a recital of chamber music.
Alongside the 7 winning poems you will find three by the people who were more
closely involved in the competition process. As poets, we would like to approach you
with a sample of our own work, rather than merely our names and credentials.
We look forward to hearing the winners read their poems at the Swindon Festival of
Literature, where we will also have the pleasure of listening to our guest poet Paul
Farley, a lecturer at Lancaster University and recipient of numerous awards and
recognitions, including the Arvon Poetry Competition, the Forward Poetry Prize for
Best First Collection, a Somerset Maugham Award, an Arts Council Writers' Award,
the Whitbread Poetry Award, was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year
1999, and has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. To the Battered Moons Poetry
Competition winners, our warm congratulations and best wishes for their future work.
Cristina Newton, co- judge and organiser, April 2011
Battered Moons Poetry Competition 2011
Organising and co-judging the second Battered Moon Poetry Competition has been a
rewarding challenge and a privilege. There were over 150 entries, encouraging for a
competition in just its second year and offering no cash prizes. It was possible only
because of the generous effort of its supporters: Matt Holland as Artswords
development worker and Director of the Swindon Festival of Literature, co-judge
Lesley Saunders, registrar and advisor Hilda Sheehan, Mark Stopforth in his arbitrator
role. To all of them my admiration and gratitude.
But the real headliners are the people who sent their poems. These are, ultimately,
what Battered Moons is all about. However isolated and lonely your word-craft may
appear, you belong in this creative community, and we wanted to hear your voice.
You proved determination and courage in sending your poems for us to consider and
made the effort worthwhile. Thank you.
Among in the poems submitted, there were those that caught our attention for their
accomplished style. They brought language alive, grabbed our attention, had resonance
and staying power, conjured intense, vivid scenes and drew the reader into their world.
Their flashes of insight, invention and know-how made them memorable and invited
the reader to come back to them. We would like to share them through the publication
of this booklet. The order of the winning poems follows a personal reflection of how
they work best as a sequence. I sought some contrast between one poem and the next.
Appearances lent itself to opening the series, with its slower pace and breathing
spaces, and a very suitable title. I aimed at an alternation of pulses and style that
moved towards the rhythmic buzz of The Honeysuckle Corridor of Certain Doom,
sensing their arrangement almost as a recital of chamber music.
Alongside the 7 winning poems you will find three by the people who were more
closely involved in the competition process. As poets, we would like to approach you
with a sample of our own work, rather than merely our names and credentials.
We look forward to hearing the winners read their poems at the Swindon Festival of
Literature, where we will also have the pleasure of listening to our guest poet Paul
Farley, a lecturer at Lancaster University and recipient of numerous awards and
recognitions, including the Arvon Poetry Competition, the Forward Poetry Prize for
Best First Collection, a Somerset Maugham Award, an Arts Council Writers' Award,
the Whitbread Poetry Award, was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year
1999, and has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. To the Battered Moons Poetry
Competition winners, our warm congratulations and best wishes for their future work.
Cristina Newton, co- judge and organiser, April 2011
2010 Winners
PROFILES OF BATTERED MOONS WINNERS and ASSOCIATES
WINNERS
BOOTH, Janice
I’ve been involved in lecturing and practising Chinese medicine for the last 22 years and its underlying philosophy is often a prompt to my creativity. I also draw on family memories of growing up in East Anglia, trying painstakingly to capture those evasive memories and moments in time and thereby make them endure! And whilst I like to make harmony and order, the words I choose often touch the unruliness of emotion, the impossibility of stemming the flow of time.
Becoming a member of the Swindon Bluegate poetry group has proved an invaluable stimulus and support to my writing over the last 12 months.
MARSIGLIA, Michelle
MUIRHEAD, Jonathan R.
Jonathan Muirhead Battered Moons Biography
Jonathan has been writing short stories and poetry since he was 13. He won 2nd prize in the 1993 Midlothian Young Writers Short Story Competition and, since then, has had many short stories and poems published. Most recently, his short story 'Pictures Of You' was published in Edinburgh's Drey Magazine (Red Squirrel Press 2011). Jonathan also reviews CDs for www.isthismusic.com, for which he has received much praise (being frequently quoted on artist press releases) and from which he has built up a wide network of PR contacts. Poetry is generally set off by something he's read in the paper, or a comment someone makes, such as conversations with friends or family. Jonathan finds writing a way of saying all the things he cannot say out loud. Jonathan is currently working on his first poetry and short story collections and can be contacted for performances and criticism at jonathan.r.muirhead@gmail.com
HARRISON, Emily
Emily Harrison won first prize for her poem "Love Has No Larynx" at the Tenth Christopher Tower Poetry Prize in 2010. The judges were Stephen Romer, Michael Schmidt and Peter McDonald.
The competition's theme was 'Promises' and it received over 1000 entrants, from every part of the UK. Seventeen year-old Emily received the £3,000 award at a lunchtime reception, as part of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, in Christ Church.
O'NEILL, Heather
SHARP, Jill (BM 2010)
As well as being a Battered Moons winner, Jill recently won the SSAFA /Kingston University Press competition for writing about war and service, and has also been a winner of the Manchester Cathedral poetry prize. Her poems have appeared in a number of magazines: South, Crazy about Pipework, 14, IMPpress, and anthologies: Images of Women(Arrowhead), Pique (Templar), The world is made of glass (Ragged Raven), Domestic Cherry(Snove Books). A small pamphlet of her poems, published by BlueGate Books, appeared last year.
Jill is an associate lecturer with the Open University and runs a thriving writing group. She has been a regular reviewer for the online British Theatre Guide and her book Written in Stone was published by English Heritage.
VAN WAVEREN, Astrid
WINNERS
BOOTH, Janice
Becoming a member of the Swindon Bluegate poetry group has proved an invaluable stimulus and support to my writing over the last 12 months.
MARSIGLIA, Michelle
MUIRHEAD, Jonathan R.
Jonathan Muirhead Battered Moons Biography
HARRISON, Emily
Emily Harrison won first prize for her poem "Love Has No Larynx" at the Tenth Christopher Tower Poetry Prize in 2010. The judges were Stephen Romer, Michael Schmidt and Peter McDonald.
The competition's theme was 'Promises' and it received over 1000 entrants, from every part of the UK. Seventeen year-old Emily received the £3,000 award at a lunchtime reception, as part of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, in Christ Church.
O'NEILL, Heather
SHARP, Jill (BM 2010)
Jill is an associate lecturer with the Open University and runs a thriving writing group. She has been a regular reviewer for the online British Theatre Guide and her book Written in Stone was published by English Heritage.
VAN WAVEREN, Astrid
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