Being the judge in a poetry competition can be very disheartening, presented with two hundred and fifty interesting and exciting poems to read through, I had to pick fifteen. This means as a judge you spend all of your time looking for reasons to discard the others. This task gets harder and harder towards the end of the process, when you are left with twenty or thirty poems that you really like and have to be extremely critical of them to try to pick the top six and put them in some sort of order. 

All the short listed pieces were technically competent and well crafted, but in the end there is something that just nudges the overall winners above the rest, something that is a bit harder to put your finger on, but each time you look through the poems you find some that just keep grabbing your attention and ending up on top of the pile.

Here are the final six, with an idea of what it was that drew me to the winning poems.

First Prize:  When a Sound Pretends to Kick a Bucket.

Lots of the poems entered had good images in them, but this poem is relentless in its imagery. The images tumble out one after the other as they carry us and the driver down the road to an inevitable car crash where he is left upside down ‘a floating foetus suspended in a seatbelt’, and from this point of stasis midway in the poem, we are propelled on another wave of images of a life flashing by, ‘The mind disrobing’.  This poem stood out on first reading and stood up to being read again and again and again.

Second prize:  Captain Nemo’s Dinner

I loved the way this poem turned a domestic scene on its head. I revelled in gloomy main character of this poem, in a ‘whole deep-sunken world’ of his own making patrolled by ‘ship-sized water-beetles’, as well as the precise voice of the narrator, whose ‘the breathless laughter, / that coloured me deep-blue as a torn open clam’ was wonderful. This poem delighted me with is fantastic surreal imagery

Third prize: Sugar

This is a poem that punches above its weight, with its sustained bitter-sweet metaphor for falling in and out of love, it carries a story that is much bigger than its mere seventeen lines.

Highly commended:

Still Life is a well observed poem in the form of a sonnet. It deals with another road death, this time a child has been run over. It ends with a haunting image of spilt ink.

Passing Over takes us to a ‘border that isn’t on the map’; instructing us how to behave as officials from this other place search through personal belongings and make awkward demands on what could be a final journey.

Why can’t you, is a very clever little poem shows you just what to do with all those clichés you’ve been avoiding. This makes me smile every time I read it.

Derek Adams, February 2012

www.derek-adams.co.uk

The winning and highly commended stories from this competition will be published in Sentinel Champions magazine #11, August 2012. Subscribe to Sentinel Champions magazine.

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry and Short Story Competitions Results

My critical criteria for evaluating the short stories submitted to the Competition consisted of assessing whether there was a grasp of the form and an attempt to say something. I was looking for structure, a clear developmental arc with its attendant desire to test a character and move the reader through literary effects. I was looking for a narrative voice that filtered relevant information and used detail to carry the narrative texture forward and made the reader see and feel beyond. I hoped for an implied story rather than a blob of writing without purpose.

Whilst the overall standard of writing was good, many pieces submitted had no story and were seriously under-developed. This is consistent with the current national state of short story writing. There are many people who do not have a clue what they are doing. There was a lot of structureless prose that could have been made more reader-friendly with some basic story telling craft. A lot of the writing was interesting without challenging the reader. The stories that were aware of the form shone through and held my attention. Other stories seemed random and ill-considered by comparison. A number of stories were unrealized in terms of length as well as structure. They sought to tell and had no story, no action, simply disorganized writing.

The best stories showed the reader and held attention through their narrative force and the gradual filtering of information leading to some form of resolution that forced the reader back to the beginning. The best stories drew the reader into the world and engaged with the reader. They made their world matter and have significance.

I selected Small Town Fever for the First Prize. This first person narrative is completely immersed in the experience of Marcie, who is on the run from her dangerous boyfriend, Jason. The unpredictable narrative moves back and forward and withholds information so that the reader wants to discover more. It is a volatile page-turner. The use of detail is strong throughout and reinforces the edgy, implied and unknown danger. The reader is taken on a journey and the underlying threat is beautifully sustained and understated. It is all implied rather than told and has a great ending.

The Second Prize story, The Difference, is a third person narrative concerning a 61 year-old Lecturer who becomes infatuated with a twenty three year old student. She is full of inner turmoil and becomes disorientated. She talks to herself and when hearing Berlioz, recalls the memory of her first affair with her Professor. She is a serial adulterer that has chosen a lifestyle without a family. Her past life and age catch up with her as it is revealed that the student is not interested in her. However, she is able to put the negatives to good use and writes a poem about being ‘over the hill’ and her unknown desire. A potential crisis is averted and the inner turmoil is put to good use. The story has a classic narrative structure and forces the reader back to the beginning.

The Third Prize went to The Lift, a third person narrative, about a young woman’s attraction for an older man. Angela has difficulty in judging men and the story explores her gut instincts. She is given a lift to Sunday Mass by Eion, who has a hint of danger and an implied past with women. They arrive at the Church, chat and drive back to his farmhouse. Her physical attraction to Eion is implied through the use of detail. The reader is drawn into their physical world of fingers, hands, legs and between the legs. The thrill for Angela of finding an independent and sexually attractive man is sustained through a rapid series of epiphanies that propel the action forward. It is all implied and evoked rather than stated and has a strong ending that allows the reader to see why Angela went in the direction that she did.

The Highly Commended stories included The first time, another adulteress woman story that has a strong developmental arc. Here the woman doubts her behaviour and recalls the loss of her virginity to a married man. She is caught in the repetition of her behavior and desires. The story reveals the physical side of wanting two men and the moral courage, despite worries of betrayal, to make a difficult choice. The story ends with her having both men on the same day. Again all the detail is physical and the reader has a strong sense that this is not a frivolous betrayal but a considered and clear choice. Living in Bleaney’s Room, a first person narrative, reads splendidly when read aloud and would work well on the radio. The narrator’s mutability is thoroughly caught in the voice and its cadences. The story resonates through its rich texture, use of detail and draws the reader into its distinct Welshness. It requires rereading as the texture is rich and sometimes covers the under-developed arc of the story, despite being well under the word limit. Pews For Thought impressed with its narrator’s characterization and the exposition of his contradictions.

Other notable stories are Luck Has Got Nothing To Do With It, a third person narrative, attempts to explore the notion of a luck in a socially dived school world, and Present Clarity, works well with its mostly implied desire of a young woman to become upwardly mobile through transgression. I also admired the innovative approach of Paul in Pictures. Anniversary, A Kind Of Heaven, A Small Cool Evening, The Lighthouse, My Loss and Perfect were all commendable efforts. Congratulations to all the writers.

David Caddy

Tears in the Fence | David Caddy’s Blog

The winning and highly commended stories from this competition will be published in Sentinel Champions magazine #11, August 2012. Subscribe to Sentinel Champions magazine.

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry and Short Story Competitions Results

This delay has been caused by transition gremlins as we now publish the magazine in print as well as online with effect from the new issue. We have proudly been on time for years and will continue to be on time as soon as this gets done. The SLQ team is working hard at making the magazine one you will continue to love and support.

If you are not yet on our mailing list and would like to be notified by e-mail as soon as the magazine is published please join now. It is absolutely free to join and we won’t spam you, and you are at liberty to unsubscribe anytime. www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/list.html

Regards

Nnorom Azuonye
Publisher & Managing Editor

We are giving away 2 annual subscriptions to our print competition magazine; Sentinel Champions.
One poet and one short story writer must win a year’s subscription. All you have to do is enter the competition as normal. All entrants to this quarter’s competition are automatically entered.

PRIZES: £150, £75, £50, AND £10 X 3 in each category + Publication in Sentinel Champions magazine.

Entry Fees: £3 per poem, £11 for 4 poems, £12 for 5 poems.
£4 per story, £10 for 3 stories & £12 for 4 stories.
Enter as many poems or stories as you wish.

Judges: David Caddy (Short Stories), Derek Adams (Poems)

Sentinel Literary Quarterly Poetry & Short Story Competitions are held every 3 months and pays out £610.00 in Prize Money every quarter.

Enter online and pay securely with PayPal or download/print off Entry Forms (for Postal Entries) at www.sentinelquarterly.com/competitions

POETRY

The 9 commended poems in no particular order are:

‘Nearer my God to Thee’ – Charlotte Trevella

‘Van Eyk’s Arnofilni Portrait’ – Lynn Roberts

‘The Abbot of Bingen’ – Brian Nisbet

‘Mitigating Things’ – Richard W.Halperin

‘Silent Days’ – Eilidh Thomas

‘Atlantis’ – Nick Taylor

‘An Honourable Outlaw’ – Steve Layzell

‘Angels of Galway Harbour’ Terry Jones

‘Losing the Termagant’ – GB Clarkson

The 3 highly commended poems in no particular order are:

‘Post’ – Sharlene Teo

‘Nature Walk’ – David Paul Jones

‘When I Lived in Buenos Aires’ – Al McClimens

Third Prize

‘Valentine Gift’ – David Paul Jones

Second Prize

‘Dorothy’ – Richard W. Halperin

First Prize

‘Madame de Pompadour Considers…’ – Lynn Roberts

SHORT STORIES

The 3 highly commended stories in no particular order are:

‘Maggie Kelly’s Gift’ – Nancy Cook

‘Going Quietly’ – Jane Moreton

‘Cztery miesiące / Four months’ – Martin Cathcart Frödén

Third Prize

‘Third Time Lucky’ – Andrew Campbell-Kearsey

Second Prize

‘Where the Blue Line Fades’ – Alison Lock

FIRST PRIZE

‘Swarm’ – ALISON LOCK

The winning and commended works listed above will be published in Sentinel Champions #10 in May 2012.

Congratulations to all the winners.

SENTINEL ANNUAL POETRY COMPETITION 2011

Closes 15-November 2011

Judge: Roger Elkin

First Prize: £500

Second Prize: £250

Third Prize: £125

High Commendation Prizes: 5 x £25

All winning & commended poems will be published in Sentinel Champions #9 in February 2012.

Entry Fee: £5 per poem. Enter as many poems as your wish.

Results due: 15 December 2011

Enter online and pay securely by PayPal or download entry form at http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/competitions/sapc-2011/

Postal Entries: Please send cheques/postal orders in GB£ only payable to SENTINEL POETRY MOVEMENT together with your poems, entry form or cover note to:

Sentinel Poetry Movement

Unit 136

113-115 George Lane

South Woodford

London

E18 1AB

United Kingdom

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Please note that we shall be publishing a print version of this issue for those individuals and institutions that prefer to have hard copies in their libraries.

NOA

We are exactly 10 days away from the publication of the Identity issue of Sentinel Literary Quarterly guest-edited by Caine Prize for African Writing winner and author of Voice of America, EC Osondu. We shall be publishing this magazine online as usual, but will have a print version available as well for those who prefer good old paper between fingers, and to keep it in their bookshelves. Don’t forget to visit www.sentinelquarterly.com on October 31st. If you would like to be notified by e-mail when this publication goes live, please subscribe our free e-Newsletter.

Sentinel Literature Festival 2011

The 2nd Sentinel Literature Festival will be held at the University College London on the 27th, 28th and 30th October 2011 and will feature readings, performances, lectures and talks by writers and musicians including Nengi Ilagha, author of Mantids, Derek Sellen, author of The Arch and its Shadow, Amanda Sington-Williams, author of The Eloquence of Desire, Osita Okagbue, author of Culture and Identity in African and Caribbean Theatre, Andy Willoughby, author of Tough, Miles Cain, author of The Border, Tinashe Mushakavanhu, editor of Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Terence Frisby, author of Kisses on a Postcard, Monica Clarke, author of They call me Hottentot Venus, Peter Olorunisomo (a.k.a Pete Godismo), author of A Snake in the King’s Palace, Christie Watson, author of Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, Graham Burchell, author of Vermeer’s Corner, N. Quentin Woolf, author of The Writer’s Notebook, and “Tequila Secrets” writer Adura Ojo. Learn more and buy your tickets now at www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/literaturefestival

Sentinel Literary Quarterly, French Literature Issue

The French Literature Issue of Sentinel Literary Quarterly will be published in January 2012. If you have not submitted your work to this issue, you may do so before the 30th of November. The French Literature issue of Sentinel Literary Quarterly marks a return to print publication of our magazine. The online magazine will still be available free-to-read but will only contain some of the materials that appear in the print version. 

Submit your work to Sentinel Literary Quarterly

Sentinel Annual Poetry Competition 2011 | Closing Date: 15-Nov-11

Details:

For previously unpublished poems in English language up to 50 lines long, on any subject, in any style. Poems entered may not be under consideration for publication, or accepted for publication elsewhere.
Prizes: £500 (First), £250 (Second), £125 (Third), 5 x £25 (Highly Commended). Publication in Sentinel Champions magazine #9, February 2012 in print and eBook formats. Judge: Roger Elkin, author of ‘No Laughing Matter’ and ‘Fixing Things’. Results will be announced on 15-DEC-2011 at www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk
Entry Fee: £5 per poem

Contact: Send poems with Cover Note or Entry Form with Cheque/Postal Order in GP£ only payable to SENTINEL POETRY MOVEMENT, Address: Unit 136, 113-115 George Lane, London E18 1AB, United Kingdom.
Enter online or download Entry Form at:
http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/competitions/sapc-2011/

The Short Story Competition was won by Leo Madigan of Fatima, Portugal with “The Maitre d’”. Caversham storyteller Julia Bohanna’s “Children of the Rubble” took the Second Prize, while the Third Prize was won by Warren Paul Glover of Woollahra, Australia with a story entitled “Table for Two.”

The full results and judges’ reports are in these locations:

Poetry: http://sentinelquarterly.com/competitions/poetry-competition-july-2011results-and-judges-report/

Short stories: http://sentinelquarterly.com/competitions/short-story-competition-july-2011-results-and-judges-report/

______________________________________________________

In this issue;

Short Stories

The Scream – Samantha Symonds

Mayday – Andrew Campbell-Kearsey

Love at First Site – Andrew Campbell-Kearsey

A Way with the Kids – Sharon Birch

Crown of Burrs – G.H. Zitzelsberger

The Green Gators – Joey C. Aglasi

Poems

Getting Married with Gertrude Stein – Nicholas Y.B. Wong

Teaching English Poetry in Hong Kong – Nicholas Y.B. Wong

Thoughts on a Bad Day – Emanuela Puosi

Spock – Christian Ward

Tastes of Blue – Warren Paul Glover

Edinburgh – Warren Paul Glover

Voice in the Night – John Cooper

Leaving Day – John Cooper

The Age of No Dog – Mandy Pannett

Move On – Mark Borg

Please Destroy – Catherine Pitt

When Kieron Came – Heather Buswell

Dorm – Ilya Meylakh

Lines – Kate Barnett

Article

Adventures in Writing Competitions Administration – Nnorom Azuonye

To buy a copy or to subscribe,  go to http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/champions