Nature Poetry Competition 2012
THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES
The term ‘Nature Poetry’ will be given a very wide interpretation by the judges. Closing date 30 April 2012.
PRIZES
1st PRIZE £1000
2nd PRIZE £400
3rd PRIZE £300
ADDITIONAL PRIZE, a personal tour with Mark Cocker of his most cherished wildlife places in East Anglia.
The winning poems will be published in The Rialto, Britain’s leading independent poetry magazine.
JUDGES
Sir Andrew Motion and Mark Cocker
Andrew Motion was for ten years The Poet Laureate. He is author of numerous books of poetry, autobiography and criticism. He has written biographies of Larkin and Keats and is co-founder of the on-line Poetry Archive. His most recent collection is The Cinder Path. He names Edward Thomas and Wordsworth among his favourite writers.
Mark Cocker has written seven books including Birds Britannica and Crow Country, which won the New Angle Prize (2009) and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize (2008). With the photographer David Tipling, he is now working on a major study of the cultural importance of birds worldwide, Birds and People.
COMPETITION RULES
• Closing date of the competition is midnight on April 30th 2012.
• The Competition is open to anyone other than Rialto team members or RSPB staff.
• Poems must have a title and must be no more than 40 lines, excluding the title, and be typed in black ink on one side of A4.
• Poems must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been published, self-published, or published on any web-site, or broadcast.
• Poems are judged anonymously so the poet’s name, address etc., MUST NOT appear on the poem.
• Poems must be written in English.
• No corrections can be made to poems entered, nor can fees be refunded.
• Entries cannot be returned.
• If you require confirmation that your postal entry has arrived please enclose a stamped addressed postcard marked ‘Acknowledgement’.
• Copyright of each poem remains with the poet but by entering the competition you give The Rialto and the RSPB the right to publish the winning poems both online and in printed media.
• The judges’ decisions are final and neither they nor the organisers will enter into any correspondence.
• Prizewinners will be notified in writing not later than September 30th 2012.
The list of prizewinners will be published on The Rialto website.
• The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice and not to award prizes if, in the judges’ opinion, such an action is justified.
