Call for Entrants: Bard of Exeter 2014 Competition Now Open!

The Exeter Bardic Chair is appointed by the Caer Wyse Gorsedd, or meeting of bards, through a public competition. 

We ask all candidates to be at the Bike Shed Theatre by 7pm on the 23rd February, the date of the competition. The proceedings start at 7:30pm. We aim to have elected a new Bard and finish the event by 10:30pm.

Each candidate is asked to provide two things on the evening of the competition:

1. Up to seven minutes of your own material, which may be song, poetry or story, or a mixture of these. Traditionally, the material is presented without a script, but as long as you can perform to the audience, we won’t be too strict.

2. Provide a manifesto (not more than 200 words) of what you would do if you were to become Bard – for the city of Exeter, the arts scene and the Bardic traditions. If you have any particular project in mind, this would be the place to mention it. The manifesto will be read out by you before or after your performance.

After all the candidates have performed and read their manifestos, the audience will vote for their favourite. There will be a break while we add up the scores.

The only requirement as Bard is to organise the next year's competition to find your successor. Any other duties are optional - it is up to you to do what you want with the role, and each person brings their own talents and ideas to the Bardic Chair.

The winner is presented with a robe and chair, which is in their safekeeping for a year and a day, when it is passed to their successor. You are required to take a simple vow on winning the title. The Bardic tradition.

 

Any questions, please ask. Please confirm your intention to take part, via email to bard@farmhouse.ac, by Sunday 16th February 2014.

You can find out further details at the organiser's website. Please contact them directly with any questions. Thank you!

Featured Poem Feb 2014 - 'Teachers' by Terry Caffrey

'Teachers'

You see the Teachers
They rule the classroom
And in a classroom then the teacher's word is law
They give us homework
I get it all wrong - and
Then I'm standing in the corner near the door.

(CHORUS
I fainted, I panicked, my clothes were far too tight
I wobbled, I waivered
I gave the kids a fright
I went to pieces
At St. Teresa's
But then a dinner lady
Brought me back to life.)

You see the teachers are always shouting
And all that shouting doesn't get them anywhere
It hurts their voices
They wag their fingers
Stamp their feet and end up pulling out their hair.

CHORUS

You see Teachers they take the lessons
They teach us maths and art and english all the day
Say "get your books out"
Sit up and listen
But we're just kids and all we wanna do is play.

CHORUS

Tom cats and meeces
Some sheep wear fleeces
And it's so hard to balance peas upon your knife
Some chimpanzeezers
and cockney geezers
have took a dinner lady
home to meet the wife.

CHORUS

I fainted, I panicked
I kissed the cat goodnight
I tumbled, I bumbled
The dog put out the light.
I went to pieces
at St. Tereas's
But then a dinner lady
brought me back to life.

© Terry Caffrey 2014
Please do not use without the poet’s permission.

 

For further information about Terry and his work please visit Terry's page here.

 

 

 

ANNOUNCING - TED SLADE AWARD WINNER 2013

The winner of the Ted Slade Award is Patricia Oxley - Acumen magazine.
Jim Bennett of Poetry Kit said: "Patricia Oxley has been at the forefront of poetry publishing for many years editing the magazine Acumen and organising the Torbay Festival of Poetry. Her work has helped to give voice to many poets and presented good poetry to a wide audience through the magazine and annual Festival. 

We are pleased that she is now a recipient of the Ted Slade Award as Ted was always keen to highlight and promote poetry publishing and Acumen has always been seen as an example of excellence.”

You can find out more about the Ted Slade Award here. 

You can find out more about Acumen magazine here.

Call for Submissions:2014 Cardiff International Poetry Competition

Closing Date: Friday 14th March 2014

The 2014 Cardiff International Poetry Competition is now open for entries. The competition offers one of the largest monetary prizes for a poetry competition of its kind. First prize is £5,000. Additional prizes are £500 for second place, £250 for third and five runners-up receive £50 each. All entries to the competition will be judged anonymously, so this is a great opportunity to have your poetry judged on its own merits.

The hard task of judging the 2014 competition will be down to award-winning poets Lemn Sissay, Rhian Edwards and filter judge Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch. Click here to read more about the judges.

If you think you have what it takes to delight the judges and get your hands on the top prize of £5,000, then send your poems now. Just make sure your poem is no longer than 50 lines long, is unpublished, is in English, and is not a translation of another author’s work. Send it, along with your entry form and payment, to Literature Wales.

To enter 

• Entry fee: £7.00 per poem. 

• To download an entry form, click here.

• To receive an entry form through the post send a stamped, self addressed envelope to: Literature Wales, CIPC14 Entry Form, Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 5FL.

Prologue to an Adventure: Developing Dylan’s International Competition

Prologue to an Adventure is Literature Wales' new international competition for young people, open to all budding writers aged between 7 and 25 years. The competition offers a special chance for entrants to have their work published in a literary magazine and read on national radio by some of Wales’ most prominent figures including, BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens.

Judges: acclaimed comedian Mark Watson, celebrated author of Submarine, Joe Dunthorne, award winning children’s author Elen Caldecott, and Dylan Thomas’ granddaughter and President of the Dylan Thomas Society, Hannah Ellis.

The competition welcomes entries in any form of creative writing from poetry to song lyrics, funny limericks to fiction, as long as it has been inspired by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas and is no longer than thirty lines or 500 words.

Closing Date: Friday 27 June 2014

For more information on Prologue to an Adventure,
and to submit a competition entry please click here
or contact Literature Wales on: 029 2047 2266 / post@literaturewales.org.

Call for Submissions: New Comedy Magazine Seeks Writers

Stand & Deliver is a new magazine for alternative comedy, based in Newcastle upon Tyne and founded by a graduate of Northumbria University. 

The magazine, which celebrates the subject of comedy, is looking for like-minded writers to contribute who have an interest and passion for the subject. Stand & Deliver, which will contain a mix of articles, features, storytelling, poetry, photography, illustration and design, will focus on celebrating comedy by getting under its skin. 

If you are a writer and interested in contributing to a new and exciting project, email danielle@standanddelivermag.com.

Call fro Submissions: The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition 2014 is now open for entries

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition has been revamped for 2014, with the inclusion of a brand new Under 21 Prize, and an increased total prize fund of £5,000. The 2014 competition will be judged by Cynan Jones, Deborah Kay Davies and Gee Williams. First prize is £2,000. Additional prizes are £800 for second place, £400 for third and six runners-up will receive £100 each.

The Under 21 Prize will be judged by Rachel Trezise. First prize is £1,000 and the runner-up will receive £200. 

Closing date: Friday 16th May 2014

To enter

• Entry fee: £7.00 per story or £4.00 per story for Under 21 Prize.

• You can enter by post or online: click here to download the entry form or click here to enter online.

• To receive an entry form through the post, please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to: Literature Wales, Rhys Davies 2014 Entry Form, Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, CF10 5FL

Source: Literature Wales