Any Poets Interested in Helping Young Writers?
October 22, 2009 by Lillie
The EPIC New Voices writing competition for middle school and high school writers received a record number of entries, especially in the poetry categories.
Consequently, we need more poetry judges. Every entry is scored by three judges, including at least one EPIC member. Every judge must be a published writer, editor, publisher, teacher, and/or librarian.
Judging doesn’t take much time. Middle school entries are limited to a maximum of 20 lines per poem, and high school entries are limited to a maximum of 30 lines per poem. Judges are asked to rate four elements—structure, rhythm, imagery, and originality—as excellent, good, fair, or poor. The most important thing judges are asked to do is to write a comment on each score sheet that is encouraging to the young writer. Suggestions for improvement should be included, if appropriate, but positive comments must be included.
Although I haven’t seen this year’s entries yet, in years past, many talented students submitted great writing. Judging will inspire you with enthusiasim for the writers of the future as well as give you the opportunity to help and encourage teen writers.
To volunteer to judge, complete the application form on the New Voices Web site. You can choose whether you will judge middle or high school entries (or both) as well as specify the number of entries you will judge. Though the judging form lists all categories, we have enough judges in the essay and short story categories.
Entries will be sent to the judges on November 3, 2009 and scores must be returned by November 24, 2009.
Thank you for supporting young writers.
Lillie, I really wanted to be a judge but its so unfortunate that I am not doing any of the above mentioned professions
I am just a Realtor and I wish I could judge and identify some of the best talents. Never mind, I hope you would let me know your choice and the reason why you picked.
.-= Mack@Las Vegas Foreclosures´s last blog ..Commercial Real Estate Bubble =-.
Mack,
I appreciate your interest in judging and understand that it’s disappointing that judges are restricted to publishing and educational professionals. But one of our primary goals is to give the kids encouragement that they will recognize comes from someone who is knowledgeable about writing. We also give them advice on improving their work, but a few words of encouragement (even “Keep working on your writing and you will continue to get better”) can mean a lot to a young writer. Hearing (or reading) those words from a professional can have even more impact.
As for being “just a Realtor,” I know that requires a lot of talent, commitment, and knowledge. My brother is a Realtor, and I created a Web site for him so I got a small taste of what is involved.
The winning entries will be published in an anthology, and I’ll post when that’s available. It won’t be for several months, though.
Hi Lillie,
The work of the Judge is really hard.It is great that write a post on them.
aditya,
We try to make it as easy as possible for publishing and education professionals to judge, but it is challenging to be encouraging and helpful.
It’s really a good things that a huge number of students are interested in poetry writing. I think You should take less numbers of judges for this. It will search the best of the best poetry, with full honesty.
ANSH,
We won’t consider using fewer judges. We believe it is essential to have three judges for each entry for the following reasons:
- Poetry (and any kind of creative activity) is subjective, and one judge may have a vastly different opinion than another. One judge would be unfair; two could just result in two totally opposite scores.
- We want the contest to be fair and to be seen as fair; three judges produce objective results and that is obvious to observers.
- One of the main reasons for the contest is to give young writers feedback from professionals. More feedback is best. Anything beyond three judges is cumbersome to administer, but three evaluations provide valuable information from different perspectives.
does it matter where the judges reside?
Rachel,
No, entries and judges can come from anywhere in the world. The criteria is the English language.
That’s great that so many entries have been received! I would love to volunteer to be a judge, but poetry is not my thing, sadly. I do remember being interested in poetry when I was in high school, but I pursued other writing ventures.
C,
I’m not a poet, either, but I will take up the slack if we don’t get enough judges. We don’t judge by strict rules since these are kids so I can handle it, but I’d prefer to judge other categories.
I love poetry but this thing go away from me. I want to make poems base on what i feel and experience. Its a good thing to share thoughts with other people too. But too bad its not my profession today. Judging makes me nervous because I cant judge if they are to good in doing so.
Thor,
I’m not a poet, so anyone who writes poetry impresses me.