LIVE POETS SOCIETY of NJ

some answers to some frequently asked questions

THERE IS NO PURCHASE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR POETRY PUBLISHED!

WHETHER OR NOT YOU PURCHASE A BOOK HAS NO BEARING, WHATSOEVER, ON THE JUDGES FINAL DECISION.

US Mail entries-THE POEM YOU RECEIVED BACK WITH YOUR LETTER IS THE POEM WHICH HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. WE HAVE NOT RETAINED A COPY OF THIS POEM. IF, FOR WHATEVER REASON, YOU CANNOT E-MAIL A FINAL VERSION BACK TO US ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS ON THE WEB PAGE STAMPED ON YOUR ENVELOPE, IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO SEND A FINAL VERSION IN WITH YOUR CERTIFICATION FORM.

WE SELECT 25-50 NATIONAL WINNERS PER QUARTER, DEPENDING ON HOW MANY ENTRIES WE FEEL ARE SUITABLE TO APPEAR IN "AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL POETS, JUST POETRY!!!, the NATIONAL POETRY QUARTERLY". THAT WOULD BE THE EQUIVALENT OF BEING NAMED TO THE FIRST-TEAM, ALL-AMERICAN FOOTBALL SQUAD. WE FEEL THAT THAT IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING SPECIAL.

TOPICAL WINNERS -- WE SELECT BETWEEN 50 AND 100 PER QUARTER PER TOPIC. AGAIN THIS DEPENDS ON HOW MANY ENTRIES ARE WORTHY OF PUBLICATION AND HOW MANY FIT THE TOPIC. GENERALLY THE 'FAITH' AND 'LOVE' CATEGORIES RENDER FEWER ACCEPTABLE ENTRIES AND THE "INSIDE OF ME" AND "MY WORLD" CATEGORIES RENDER AT LEAST TWICE AS MANY ACCEPTABLE ENTRIES. THIS IS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT WE PROBABLY RECEIVE MORE POEMS CONCERNING LOVE THAN ANY OTHER TOPIC. HOWEVER, A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF THEM SIMPLY ARE NOT UNIQUE, ORIGINAL, AND/OR WELL WRITTEN

SO IT BREAKS DOWN LIKE THIS, WE GENERALLY RECEIVE BETWEEN 2000 AND 4000 POEMS PER QUARTER.25-50 WILL BE SELECTED AS NATIONAL WINNERS AND 150 TO 300 WILL BE SELECTED AS TOPICAL WINNERS. MOST OF THE NATIONAL WINNERS WILL COMPLETE THE CERTIFICATION FORM AND RETURN IT BY THE DEADLINE AND THEREFORE WILL BE PUBLISHED. SOME OF THE TOPICAL WINNERS WILL NOT AND WILL MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE THEIR WORK.

SO AS YOU CAN SEE, WE DO NOT ACCEPT EVERY POEM ENTERED. IN FACT, WE CONSIDER OURSELVES TO BE QUITE CHOOSY. WE INSIST ON A QUALITY PUBLICATION, AND, THEREFORE, INSIST ON QUALITY POETRY.

OUR GRAND PRIZE WINNER WILL BE SELECTED FROM THIS YEAR'S QUARTERLY WINNERS BY ONLINE VOTE DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST. WE INTEND TO ANNOUNCE THAT WINNER EACH YEAR IN THE FALL ISSUE OF JUST POETRY!!!. THE LINKS TO THE WINNERS PAGE WILL APPEAR ON WWW.JUSTPOETRY.ORG NEAR THE END OF SEPTEMBER.