Poetry Contest Guide for Award Seeking Poets

Professor Contest says:  "The purpose of a contest is to democratically evaluate the work of various authors in terms of overall popularity and effectiveness."

But we say, "Contests are for fun!"

Entering A Contest

Most contests allow any member (except trial) to enter.  To enter, you should click the name of the contest, which is usually located on the main page of DarkPoetry in the upper left corner, below the number of works/members/comments.

To avoid being disqualified, you should read the instructions very carefully.  Many contests have subtle rules that require entrants to really use their writing talents.

Voting In A Contest

Once the entry phase is over, the voting phase begins. 

The worst thing you could possibly do is go and vote without reading the contest rules very carefully first.  Just like in a presidential election, an educated voter is critical to avoiding disasters.  Of course, on DarkPoetry, we reserve the right to intervene when that happens, but thanks to careful voters like you this is the exception.

Unless otherwise specified, you will only get one vote, and to be fair with that vote, be sure to read at least all of the poems entered that have interesting titles.

Contest Results

The winner will be declared when the results have been examined by the site leadership, and a prize will be awarded.

The prize is usually a membership boost.  The prize has no cash value, and can't be redeemed for actual membership credit, but it is fully transferable.  It may be best explained by an example or two:

I. Joe

Joe is a Basic Member.  Joe wins the "beyootiful poem" contest and decides to use the prize, a month of Gold Membership, for his own account.   His account is given a temporary "override" membership which will not interfere with his normal account, it will just give him all the benefits and privileges of the higher membership for the month in this case.

II. Jane

Jane is a Gold Member.  Jane wins, and since she is already enjoying the best the site has to offer, she decides to give the prize to Stu, who is a postcard member but a really talented guy.  Stu gets the membership boost for the duration instead.   Gold members can always use the contest prize to highlight someone else's account who they feel deserves more attention.

The results and these examples may be revised as the contest machinery evolves.