Rules for the 2020 Poetry and Photography Competitions

THE 2020 POETRY COMPETITION OPENS ON SEPTEMBER 1st 2019

Rules of the Poetry Competition

• The '18 & Over' age group may submit up to 5 entries, 'Under 18s' groups may submit 1 entry
• The competition is judged anonymously - please DO NOT write your name, address or any other identifier on your poem - your name should only appear on your entry form
• The theme of the competition is Snowdrops or the work of James Allen (more details here) or inspiration from the judge's comments: "James Allen’s two most enduring snowdrop varieties ‘Magnet’ and Merlin’ both suggest in their names a kind of electric, invisible power. Perhaps he was searching for names to describe the strong pull these tiny white flowers have on our eyes and hearts in midwinter, that electric spark of green life in the monochrome when all seems so dead. What sort of powers can a small flower hold?"
• Poems must not exceed 30 lines in length. Entries which exceed the stated length will be disqualified
• Poems may use any format – haiku, sonnet, blank verse etc.
• The entry fee is £4 for age '18 & Over', and free of charge for 'Under 18s'
• Entries must be the exclusive work of the author
• Poems must be typed in English, not have been published before and not currently entered in any other competition
• You must upload your poems as Microsoft Word .doc or .docx files, which must be scanned to ensure that they are free from computer viruses
• Registration, entry details, uploads and payments must be completed online - here
• If you are unable to enter online you can download and print out an entry form from here, send it in together with a typed/printed A4 copy of your poem, plus a cheque made out to 'Shepton Mallet Horticultural Society' to:
  Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival Poetry Competition
  The Walled Garden, Chamberlain Street, Wells, Somerset, BA4 2PE
• Each individual poem should be typed on a separate A4 document – please use as many pages as you need
• Where a poem is longer than one page, please clearly include the title and number on each page
• Type your entry in 12 point text
• No changes can be made to a poem once it has been submitted

• All entries are accepted in good faith
• The entrant agrees to indemnify the judges, organisers, and other related parties against any litigation that may arise if entered works do not have the necessary permission to be published
• Copyright remains with the authors but the Snowdrop Festival reserves the right to reproduce the poems, including in the press and online, to publicise and promote the competition and the festival
• No single piece of work may win more than one prize
• No correspondence can be entered into
• The festival reserves the right to update and amend these rules at any time - any changes will be posted on this website
• The judges' decisions are final

Deadline for entries
The deadline for entries is 11pm on 31st December 2019

THE 2020 PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION OPENS ON 1st NOVEMBER 2019

Rules of the Photography Competition​

• Competitors may submit up to 5 entries
• The themes of the competition are Snowdrops, or, Winter Landscape.
• Photographs taken with cameraphones or tablets are as welcome as those from stills camera
• Images must have been taken in 2019/20
• The original image have been taken using a photographic process and be the sole copyright of the entrant
• Any editing or post processing of the original image must only be made by the photographer
• Downloaded  clip-art, textures, overlays, or elements from any other photographer's images must not be used
• The entry fee is £4 for age '18 & Over', and free of charge for 'Under 18s'
• You must enter digital images
• Digital images should be of 8x10 inches - 3500x 2800 pixels in JPEG format only
• Registration, entry details, uploads and payments must be completed online - here
• ​If your digital image is shortlisted for a prize you will be asked to submit a higher resolution file,​ if one is available
• The organisers reserve the right to reproduce any entry (without fee) in connection with the competition
• The organisers reserve the right to reject any image which does not meet the entry criteria or if it is deemed offensive to a wider public audience  
• Entrants must be able to supply, if requested, the original image file
• All entries are accepted in good faith
• The entrant agrees to indemnify the judges, organisers, and other related parties against any litigation that may arise if entered images do not have the necessary permission to be published
• Copyright remains with the authors but the Snowdrop Festival reserves the right to reproduce the poems, including in the press and online, to publicise and promote the competition and the festival
• No single piece of work may win more than one prize
• No correspondence can be entered into
• The festival reserves the right to update and amend these rules at any time - any changes will be posted on this website
• The judges' decisions are final

Deadline for entries
The deadline for entries is 11pm on 8th February 2020