Competition
Winners 2007
Short Story Portfolios
Poetry Portfolios
First
prize winner receives £1,000. Second prize winner
receives one week writers retreat/holiday in Talbot House, Flanders, plus travel
expenses. (Xenia Taiga is being offered a cash alternative because of the distance).
Highly Commended/Runners up receive a de luxe black and gilt faux leather portfolio
containing A4 writing pad and silver/blue pen.
Judges'
Comments
In judging this year's competition the focus was on not just
one poem or story, but on a portfolio containing several. Portfolios comprised
either six poems or three short stories.
Some portfolios were themed, while
others were not. Some had an overall title, others didn't. Either form was acceptable
and eligible. Most portfolios contained a variety of styles, subjects, genre and
- yes - mixed standards. Therefore, no one single poem or short story can be said
to have won the competition. The "top ten" portfolios (ten in each category,
that is) were those judged to contain six strong poems or three strong stories.
There were 160 poetry portfolios (totalling 960 poems) and 260 short story portfolios
(780 stories) entered. They came from countries around the world making this a
truly international competition, especially so in the short story category. Every
entrant observed the rules (which seems to buck the trend in the wider competition-world!)
and so there were no disqualifications,
For the judging process, portfolios
had their cover pages removed rendering them anonymous, identifiable only by numbers.
That is standard procedure in all Biscuit competitions. A group of readers, made
up of intelligent bookish folk, the kind you see everyday in good bookstores browsing
the shelves for a good read - surely the best judges of all - meticulously read
through the whole lists. They met several times, they discussed, they argued,
they eventually selected ten portfolios from each category. And they all agreed
that the intense literary experience had virtually changed their lives for the
better.
As for the final judges, Maureen Almond
judged the shortlisted poems. Brian Lister judged the shortlisted short stories.
The Final Poetry Portfolios,
Maureen Almond
Judging poetry competitions is a very subjective business.
What I like are poems that reflect situations I recognise, things I know, but
didn't know I knew until the poem told me. Many of the entries contained excellent
individual poems that did just that, but the competition had to be judged on the
basis of sets of poems, so I was looking for a certainty of tone which would make
me confident that the author was capable of sustaining consistently good output.
The sets of poems I looked at were of a high standard and contained an
excellent cross section of subject matter with no one predominant theme and it
was gratifying to note that entrants had found lots to say about ordinary every
day experiences rather than feeling they had to tackle the 'big' issues. None
of the entries were pretentious, or trying too hard to be poetry. This meant that
most of them had a very authentic feel. What often happens in poetry competitions
(in my experience) is that there are lots of entries in form; sestinas seem to
be particularly popular! Once a form has been learned it is fairly straightforward
to achieve, technically speaking; but poetry isn't just a matter of demonstrating
technical skill, any more than it's just a matter of pouring out emotion.
For poetry to achieve its aims it has to have evidence of both skill and art.
I have nothing against poems written in form, but not if it is so heavy as to
drown out everything else and I was pleased to see that this was not the case
with this competition. What I did see from many of the entries was a good feel
for the line and excellent use of rhythm and enjambment. There was also evidence
of mid-line rhyming, half-rhyme and echo which made for some very enjoyable reading.
In the end though, what I liked about the poems in the winning entry
was the pace within the poems; the way the author led the reader through one thought
to another and another until there was total involvement with the poem and you
were no longer an outsider looking in, but there right in the middle of it all.
The winning entry also showed good control of language while managing to convey
a very 'urban' setting and an excellent sense of 'now'. I think poems like this
demonstrate that the writer has an eye (ear and nose) for detail as well as real
engagement with his/her surroundings. Above all though, as a reader, I felt included
in the world portrayed in the poems of the winning entry and I like that feeling.
The Final Short Story
Portfolios, Brian Lister
Though never onerous, this was the most difficult
and sobering competition I have ever judged. Difficult by its complexity and sobering
because it was I that dreamt up the portfolio entry requirements! But as ever,
it was a labour of love. The brilliance of the ten portfolios I was privileged
to read made it so.
I like short stories with
strong openings. Stories that grab my attention with the first sentence and hold
my interest throughout with carefully sewn hooks, regular pacing, tangible textures,
visual landscapes, and dialogue that is both real and terse. I like accessible
stories. I enjoy reading several stories written by one author and recognising
the same 'voice' that is unique to that writer. I enjoy a challenge, I search
short stories for layers, an underlying message, a subliminal news flash. It happens!
"Oh - that reminds me of…." I like stories that open for
analysis. And how many times have you heard a critic's analysis eschewed by the
artist? The fact is this, literature, like visual art, once released to the outside
world ceases to be the property of the artist. (I am not talking about copyright
here!) The world takes it and interprets it according to the eye of the beholder.
The world will read between the lines and recreate the messages. "But that's
going against what the writer might be saying!" Maybe so, but I would argue
that the artwork - the contemporary short story - is like a proposition in a debating
chamber. It's there to be examined, mulled over, poked and prodded.
After
a prolonged ecstasy of examining, mulling, poking and prodding, I eventually I
gave the first prize to a portfolio that came closest to all that I hold dear
in creative short fiction. Another came within a cat's whisker of the first and
I dithered for several days and nights over which one was the better. I was enamoured
by the clarity of style in the second prize winner's stories, and impressed by
the writer's ability to switch narrative viewpoints across the portfolio and employ
them to best effect. I revisited - for the umpteenth time - the other eight portfolios.
They all stood tall in a horizontal row. Each one of them could have been a worthy
winner. And that's the truth.
2006
Winners:
click here
for details of the top ten winners of the 2005 competition
2005
Winners:
click here
for details of the top ten winners of the 2005 competition
