Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by August 15, 2009
PROCEDURES
Entries in the Annual Contests are mailed to the PST Annual Contests Chairman, Nancy Baass, 2306 N. De Leon Street, Victoria, TX 77901-4812. The Annual Contests Committee determines the eligibility of entries and prepares the poems for judging.
The Chairman of the Committee is responsible for selecting judges, except when the donor names the judge. Each contest is judged by one competent judge, unless otherwise specified. Each judge selects the winning poems in a given contest, ranks poems by titles and numbers, and returns the poems to the Chairman.
If, in the opinion of the Committee, no entry in a contest measures up to the desired standard, the award may be withheld. The Chairman prepares a list of winners which is submitted to the President, the Vice President, and the Treasurer of PST. 1st place winners are notified by mail.
1st, 2nd and 3rd place contest winners are announced at the Annual Awards Banquet in Dallas each year. 1st place winners who are present read their poems.
1st place poems may not be printed elsewhere before they appear in the PST A Book of the Year. Thereafter, full rights revert to the authors. The authors retain full claim to non-winning poems and poems winning other than 1st place.
In order to control costs, if a donor awards more than one prize in any one contest, only one poem, as designated by the judge, will be published in the PST A Book of the Year and read at the Banquet.
The Annual Awards Committee will disqualify entries that fail to conform to the rules.
A. ELIGIBILITY OF CONTESTANTS
1. ACTVE DUES-PAID MEMBERS, LIFE MEMBERS AND MEMBERS EXEMPT FROM DUES may enter all contests upon the payment of an entry fee(s) payable in U.S. Dollars:
~ Entry fee of Five Dollars ($5.00) for each envelope entered.
~ Each poem entered in Contest #1, The Therese Lindsey Award, will require an additional Five Dollars ($5.00) entry fee.
~ Only one entrant's poems should be in an envelope.
~ Make checks payable to: Poetry Society of Texas.
~ All fees must accompany entries.
2. ASSOCIATE MEMBERS may enter only the contests marked with an asterisk (*) upon payment of an entry fee(s) payable in U.S. Dollars:
~ Entry fee of Five Dollars ($5.00) for each envelope submitted.
~ Only one entrant's poems should be in an envelope.
~ Make checks payable to: Poetry Society of Texas.
~ All fees must accompany entries.
3. NON-MEMBERS may enter contests marked with an asterisk (*) upon payment of an entry fee(s) payable in U.S. Dollars:
~ Up to 3 poems may be entered for a Five Dollars ($5.00) entry fee. Poems entered in addition to the first 3 poems require an additional Two Dollars ($2.00) entry fee per poem.
~ Only one entrant's poems should be in an envelope.
~ Make checks payable to: Poetry Society of Texas.
~ All fees must accompany entries.
B. ELIGIBLITY OF POEMS
1. Entries must be postmarked by the stated deadline: August 15, 2009.
2. Each entry must be the original work of the contestant.
3. Contestants may enter as many contests as desired, but only one poem in any one contest. (Exception: Contest #1; see contest description.)
4. A poem entered in one contest may not be entered, in whole or in part, in any other contest.
5. A poem may not be entered in a contest in which the contestant won the 1st place award the preceding year.
6. A poem is not eligible which, in whole or in part, has been published in print, presented over radio or television or on the Internet, accepted for publication, or which is in the hands of an editor for consideration, or entered in any contest running concurrently.
7. Other than winners of the Critic's Award, poems which have been entered in PST's monthly general or special contests and which are otherwise eligible, may be entered.
8. An eligible poem may not be withdrawn after submission.
9. Requests to alter poems after submission will not be honored . Before publication, an author may make only spelling, grammar or punctuation changes to a winning poem.
C. REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRIES
1. Submit poems, typed in black ink, single spaced, in duplicate, on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper, one side only, with originals in one group and copies in another group.
2. The Annual Contests Committee strongly recommends the use of Times New Roman as the font of submitted poems. This will reduce the chance of errors in published poems, since all 1st place poems must be scanned.
3. Artistic fonts and/or artwork are not acceptable
4. If an entry has more than one page, the pages must be stapled together.
5. Type the contest number and the contest name in the upper left-hand corner of each poem.
6. Poem titles of one line will not be included in the total line count. However, all extra lines, including subtitles, epigrams and footnotes will be counted as part of the poem for the total line count.
7. The Editor of the PST A Book of the Year reserves the right to alter line breaks in poems having more than 50 characters per line, including punctuation marks and spaces.
8. List all poems along with contest numbers (in numerical order) and contest names on an 8 1/2" x 11" identification sheet as follows:
John Q. Poet
1212 N. Bard Street
Museville, Texas 75211
(000) 111-2222
e-mail: imapoet@whatsupdoc.com
Contest Number & Name Poem Title
1. THE JOHN DOE AWARD (Your poem title)
2. THE MARY DOE AWARD (Your poem title)
3. (Etc.)
9. The author's name and address must not appear on entries or duplicate entries, but must appear on the identification sheet only.
10. If more than one poem is entered, mail the poems unfolded.
11. Send only by First Class or Priority Mail, or other comparable method. Do not send by Registered Mail or any method of delivery requiring a signature upon receipt or that must be picked up.
Send poems, identification sheet and entry fee(s) to:
PST Annual Contests Chairman
Nancy Baass
2306 N. De Leon Street
Victoria, TX 77901-4812
361-575-2273
nbaass@earthlink.net
The 2009 PST Annual Awards Banquet
will be held on November 14th, 2009.
