Poets don’t write poetry to make money. That would be absurd. But there’s no doubt that the growing number of poetry prizes makes it much more of an alluring proposition. Bigger competitions, like the National Poetry Competition, the Troubadour and the Bridport Prize all offer a first prize of £5,000 for a single unpublished poem. This is tempting enough in itself. But there’s something else about them. It’s the deadline. There’s nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing. That adrenalin-fuelled sense of panic that can lead to flashes of brilliance.
Annual competitions also create a structure to the poet’s working life. They focus the mind. They may inspire a new poem, or inspire the poet to make improvements to a poem they’re not entirely happy with it.
"I love deadlines," wrote Douglas Adams. "I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." Of course, deadlines are there to be broken, but there are some you just don't want to miss. Like the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize (run by Ireland's The Moth magazine) – and its alluring €13,000 prize fund. With a closing date of December 31st, it's the ultimate way to ring in the New Year.
As well as the obvious monetary reward, winning a competition like this can also give a poem a whole new lease of life. Take Ann Gray’s My Blue Hen. Gray stumbled across a copy of the Moth in a bookshop in Dublin while attending a Leonard Cohen concert in 2012. Inside the magazine were details of the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize, which she duly entered and won. She used some of the €10,000 prize money to renovate the nursing home she runs in Cornwall.
My Blue Hen went on to be shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem this year. In September, Ann read it to a rapt audience at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
“Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs,” Elizabeth Bishop wrote, “no regular hours, so many temptations!” Which is true. But these days it’s good to know that there are more opportunities out there for poets, and the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize is one date that looms large on the literary calendar. The beauty of this prize – and other prizes like it – is that anyone can enter a poem, as long as it hasn’t been published before.
Former US poet laureate Billy Collins will judge the entries blind, choosing one overall winner (€10,000) and three runners-up (who will each receive €1,000). All four shortlisted poems will appear in the spring 2016 issue of the Moth, before the winner is announced in April – and after that who knows where.
For more details go to www.themothmagazine.com
