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Finalist Lists in Contests


  • ea
    Sep 18 11:55 AM
    Reply
    I'm in a quandary about how to use the finalist list. I have gotten so that I usually only put the top three choices or top four (honorable mention in) because I feel like if I add the others I liked, the ones below will really feel like chopped liver. Whereas if there are only 3 or 4 up there, everyone can feel like, well, we weren't the worst. I'm not sure though, because I just ran a contest where I kind of felt bad that I didn't put more in the finalist list afterwards, because it was a big contest and there really were several others that I felt deserved some kind of recognition.

    Grrr... I love hosting the ideas but I hate it when people feel hurt or left out in the judging process. How does everyone else feel? Do you like seeing more finalists or would you prefer to only see the top 3-4 up there? (I guess it depends on whether you are in the finalist list or not!)

  • Judith Chandler
    September 18 ↑
    Reply
    Sometimes I know my entry isn't very good and I feel the ranking is justified. Other times, I feel like it's just been dashed off. In fact I know I just dashed it off, and it gets the gold. Go figure. I try not to feel too guilty about that or about those at the bottom in my own contests. I think maybe they can handle it! Someone wins and someone has to lose. Sometimes they lose because their stuff isn't very good and sometimes the choice is kind of arbitrary. It's nice when you can honestly say that they ALL should have won but that doesn't happen very often.

    But, in answer to your question, I've been adding a few to the finalist list that don't end up ranking. Just the ones I like, of course.

    All this is just my opinion.

  • Legend
    September 20 ↑
    Reply
    The only time i put a poem in the finalist list is when i am judging, as soon as its done i announce the winners
    I find that on the few occasions when been in a contests and there has been a finalist list there are some who thinking they have no chance withdraw the entry.

    Many times i have re-read a poem and it becomes a potential winner,
    Personally i see no reason to have the list, except to place the winners
    I like all entries to know that they could win right up to the moment i judge.
    It seems so deflating to do this days before the contest closes and is judged
    That just the way i work

    • Misskaoz
      October 30 ↑
      Reply
      Yeah I agree with you I stopped putting people on the finalists' list also, because I will re-read all poems before I judge and I don't want anyone to feel discourage and leave the contest because they are not on the finalists' list.

  • hendiadys
    September 21 ↑
    Reply
    The great thing about contests is that people go for them. On the other hand, not all setters make good judges (I've sometimes thought that there might be the useful collective noun "an ineptitude of judges"). The points are neither here nor there, except for use in activising poets. Might there be some benefit, however, in having to classify oneself on entry as "Unskilled" or "Skilled"?

  • ea
    September 21 ↑
    Reply
    Judging is subjective. You can write the most perfect sonnet imaginable and it may not move the judge, "skilled" or "unskilled" - it's neither here nor there with me. I had someone on here change the photograph in her contest when I entered a sonnet based on it (an ekphrastic piece) and she'd asked for free verse. Touche! I still got a strong poem out of it (for myself), despite the ungracious reception.

    I sometimes award for most improved, or most original concept, even if the poem has misspellings, etc. I think the value of posting interesting contests is highly underrated and underappreciated here because of all the emphasis on the trophies. People should be valuing the writing experience more than the win.


    • Freed by Mercy
      October 25 ↑
      Reply
      I agree. Judging is SO subjective, and depends entirely on what the judge understands as "poetry" or what one likes. If I get a good poem out of it, that's the best reward.
      Then I can go back, work on it, prune it, improve it as I improve.

      An honest, helpful comment is the best prize of all, much better and more helpful that some virtual trophy. Many of the finest poets on this site have relatively few trophies.

      You can't control what others like or what they do. So what you do, do for yourself. Make sure it gives you a sense of satisfaction.

  • polly filla
    September 21 ↑
    Reply
    it's even harder when there's hardly any entries

    sometimes, having one 'winner' is good, and other times, there are at least 2 or 3 equal in their 'winning' formula

    whatever; it's not really the winning that's important, for (imo) contests are primarily a chance to write, as an end in itself

  • MoonStarRaven
    October 10 ↑
    Reply
    Like you said it depends on whether or not you made it on the finalist list. lol
    I personally feel that hey even if i didn't get a trophy, at least I made it on the finalist list. When I don't it's momentarily disappointing, but I figure my poem just wasn't what they were looking for, not as a statement that the poem was bad.

    On the few contest I have done, I wait until the contest is over and I'm ready to judge it before, I read the entries, comment and put all the ones I like in the finalist list as I go. I think that even if they didn't get a trophy they should at least see that they were the runners up. As for the ones not on the list I just have to hope that they realise everyone has different tastes and just because they didn't make the list doesn't mean their poems were bad, they just didn't speak to my personal tastes.

    • Matt Holck
      October 24 ↑
      Reply
      list poems are easy to rhyme
      easy to create images with out getting tangled in an extended metaphor

  • Judith Chandler
    October 24 ↑
    Reply
    If my piece at least makes it to the finalist's list, I don't feel so much of an also ran as if its just somewhere in that other list below. Either way though, I don't lose sleep over it.

  • DeeCrepit
    October 24 ↑
    Reply
    I seldom compete.

  • ea
    October 25 ↑
    Reply
    I liked it better in the past when there was no finalist list. It's bad enough for most not to win a trophy than to have the added stress of seeing if they at least made the finalist list and in what order.

    As a host, I rarely see the need to add more to the finalists; they weren't really in the running to beat out any of the winners in the first place, and I find that I start worrying about if a friend will be offended if they weren't in the finalist list if I start to add more poems "above the line".

    • apropos
      October 25 ↑
      Reply
      I find a lot of people add a friend's poem to the finalist list of a contest so they won't upset them (as you say above). It's a pity, but a fact, that most of us on this site are very insequre about our poetry.

  • Misskaoz
    October 30 ↑
    Reply
    The one thing I can say is If I don't win a contest or place on the finalists' list I don't get discouraged. Maybe a little disappointed that the poem didn't touch you. What will discourage me are JUDGES that leave comments like "you suck" or something just as negative as that. And also if you are judging a contest, I believe you should leave a comment on EVERY poem and it should at least be more than, Good Luck in my contest. I normally will not enter another contest by you if that is your only response. If you don't like the poem at least say why , maybe I would like to be given the chance to rewrite for you before the contest ends. I don't think anyone should have to judge based on specific standards or regulations, but I do believe there should be rules.
    I.E.
    1. Judges must comment on every entry. More than one sentence to qualify as a comment.
    2. Judges comments should be constructive not destructive.
    3. I also think finalists' list should be hidden as I find even myself checking back on contests just to see if I am there yet.
    4. If you do not like a poem please tell the artist so that if given enough opportunity they may have the chance to rewrite or revise the particular poem.
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