First (most recent):

As a long-time use of the ZEN ISP, I misguidedly thought it might be a good idea to use gmail as competitions secretary. I’m afraid that has not been the case. So, with effect from and imcluding the June competition I’d like all competition entries sent to ken.franklin@zen.co.uk

The closing date for entries is the 8th of each month and all entrants will be invited to comment on/critique fellow entrants submissions by the end of the month with results being published by end of the following week.

The March and April competitions have attracted fewer than a dozen entries. With a Society membership approaching seventy it’s clear we’re appealing only to a relatively small minority of members.

The reasons for this might be:

1. Competitions have lost their appeal
2. They are held too often, (we offer eight this year).
3. The competitions are insufficiently varied

I’d welcome members ideas to help improve participation. Please let me know what you think the Society might do to improve the situation. For example, do we need more varied competitions? Fewer of the them? Shorter ones eg flash fiction-types? Is the balance between fiction and poetry appropriate?

I look forward to what you have to say.

Second

A little late, I know but I’ve allowed ample time to take down decorations, recycle Christmas cards and dispose of Christmas trees.

Michael Round has stepped down as competitions secretary, leaving an impossibly large pair of shoes to be filled. I will do my trepidatious best with fingers (and toes) firmly crossed.

I’d like to start 2024 by making a few changes, namely:
- all competition entries to be submitted by email - no more snail mail entries in future.

- the existing deadline for entries has been advanced by one week to the 8th of each month - the earlier the better to achieve the target of circulating submissions to members and collating and distributing the results by the end of the month.

May I remind contributors the adjudication scheme is first, second and third with respectively 3 points for your first choice, two for second and one for third. Positions on the podium will depend on the sum of individual scores.

We start the competition year with an autobiographical anecdote (up to one thousand words) to be sent to ken.franklin@zen.co.uk by Thursday 8 February. The next event is the Herbert Spencer Poetry competition with submissions to me by 8 March, so plenty of time to exercise those poetic muscles either in blank or rhyming verse.