The Richard Jefferies Society

Poetry Competition 2011-2012

‘Nature and Landscape: The concentrated silence of green things’

THE COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED - The winning entry is entitled 'Phase Shifting' by Amal El-Mohtar.

The Richard Jefferies Society is looking for poems which take an intimate look into the English countryside, its nature and inhabitants, and the emotional and spiritual ties which connect them.

Richard Jefferies was one of England’s greatest writers on nature, landscape and rural life. His finest works, often classed as prose-poetry, evoke in great detail the colour, life and movement of the
natural world, its mysteries, its interconnections, and its deep and subtle kinship with humanity’s inner ‘soul’. Through his work Jefferies also conveyed an underlying sadness at mankind’s weakening bond with nature.

This competition seeks to encourage others to explore the magic of the sun, sea, stars and, in Jefferies’ words, the ‘concentrated silence of green things’.

 We welcome submissions relating to Jefferies’ writing on nature and landscape including, but by no means limited to, such themes as:

•  City and country
•  The human presence in nature
•  Mankind’s need to engage with the natural world
•  Rural change
•  Victorian rural life or thought
•  Landscape and perception
•  A strong attachment to a place
•  Wild life
•  The elements
•  Consciousness and the wider universe

PRIZE The winner will receive a certified £100 Richard Jefferies Poetry Prize and one year’s free membership of the Richard Jefferies Society.
The winning entry will be published in the Richard Jefferies Society Journal (Winter 2012). 

Closing date: 30th June 2012.

COMPETITION RULES 

• Closing date for receipt of postal and online entries: 30th June 2012.
•  Poems should have no more than 40 lines, and no fewer than 3 lines.
•  Maximum of 3 entries.
•  Entries MUST NOT have been previously published (including online).

(payable by cheque to ‘Richard Jefferies Society’

ENTRY FORMAT

Entries must be in English. 

Postal entries must be typed, single sided, with pages numbered and securely fastened with a staple.

Each entry on a new sheet.

Poems to be single spaced. 

Entries must show no name, address or identifying marks other than the title, but don't forget to add your contact details on a separate sheet of paper. Online entries should have an ID number which we will supply when you enter.

The filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, .wps, .pdf or .txt file.

Entries cannot be returned, so please keep a copy. 

No corrections can be made after receipt, nor fees refunded.

Postal submissions and entry fees should be sent to:

Richard Jefferies Creativity

c/o Rebecca Welshman

Old Coach House

Maincombe

Crewkerne

Somerset TA18 7TL

Email submissions should be sent in the form of an attachment to:  

poetrycompetition@richardjefferiescreativity.co.uk

 Enclose a stamped addressed postcard marked ‘ACKNOWLEDGEMENT’ if you require acknowledgement of receipt of your postal entry. It is not possible to confirm receipt of entries by phone, but email entries will be acknowledged by return.

RESULTS

To receive the judges’ report for the winning entry only, enclose an A5 stamped addressed envelope.

 COPYRIGHT

 Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but the Richard Jefferies Society will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning poem (including runners up), in any relevant promotional material.

 JUDGING

 The judging panel will consist of: Professor Tim Kendall (Head of the English Department at the University of Exeter and published poet); Paul Davidson (published poet); Simon Coleman (Richard Jefferies Society), and Rebecca Welshman (Richard Jefferies Society). The judges’ decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries.