Limerick Poetry Contest

Final Judging on Friday, July 13, 2012

Competition Age Brackets:
15 and under
16-20
21-25
Late Poets Society (see below)
Master Class (over 25)

Each Entry:

• Must be an original poem, otherwise unpublished, and presented/signed by its author.

• Must hew closely to the classic metric form of the Limerick poem (sample in K, below).

• May be rude, a bit crude, or even a touch lewd, but must not be plainly obscene, blasphemous, or otherwise patently offensive.  We are hoping to have a pastor as a judge, for Goodness’ sake.

• Must include name, address, and age of entrant; phone and e-mail info optional.

• Must be easily and clearly legible.

• May be mailed before July 4th 2012, one poem per envelope, to the Saline Celtic Festival office  --  mailing address is:
  Saline Celtic Festival – Limericks
  Saline City Hall
  100 N. Harris Street
  Saline, MI 48176
  OR email limerick@salineceltic.org

• Becomes the property of the Saline Celtic Festival.

Other Important Considerations:

• There are no fees to enter the Limerick Contest.  Prizes will include excellent poetic and literary items, and will be awarded to the first-place finishers in each category.

• Submitters who attend the Festival may be favored slightly over non-attendees, but no absentee submitters will be excluded on the basis of attendance.

• All walk-in submissions at the Festival will be welcomed, but those entrants will compete as members of the “Late Poets Society.”

• Preferred themes in the poems are the glorious aspects of Saline, Celtic culture, Celtic tribes and nations, traditional Celtic foods and beverages, and kilts.  These aspects are not mandated, but are merely suggested with a strong nudge and a couple of winks, if you know what I mean . . .

• No Saline Celtic Festival committee chair, poobah, or judge may compete for prizes or officially sanctioned glory.  Close relatives of aforementioned chairs, poobahs, and judges may enter under withering scrutiny by the poetical scrutineers at the Festival.

• The judges will not be easily swayed by bribes, but conveyors of foam-headed beverages are always held in high esteem on hot summer days.

• Non-first-place finishers in the final competition round will receive an “Honorable Mention” certificate from the Festival.

• After July 4th, entries must be hand-delivered to the Limerick judges on Festival Friday.

• If a prize winner is not present at the Festival at the moment of winning, written/printed proof of age and identity may be required (since we wish to exclude any adult writers masquerading as children in plaid skirts).

• If an entry is found to have been copied from another source, the submitter may be publicly vilified and possibly even cursed.

• Exemplar of the most typical, most classic Limerick poetic meter:
  
  baa DUM baa baa DUM baa baa DUM (baa),
  baa DUM baa baa DUM baa baa DUM (baa),
  baa DUM baa baa DUM,
  baa DUM baa baa DUM,
  baa DUM baa baa DUM baa baa DUM (baa).
  
  NOTE: the choice of nonsense syllables to illustrate the poetic meter is not intended in any way to malign the nature of sheep in general, nor of female Scottish sheep in particular, nor the affection which Scotsmen may hold for them.  The Limerick Board of the Saline Celtic Festival wishes in no way to anger any group which is noted for
  drinking whiskey,
  throwing rocks,                                                                              
  or wearing dirks inside their socks.
  
  NOTE:  Be careful in the style and taste of your composition, as the Limerick Board of the Saline Celtic Festival are quite serious about avoiding blatant obscenity, profanity, and offensiveness. 
  If we wanted stupid, raw, offensive crap,
  our choice of music would be rap.

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