Reading the poems that have previously won or been commended in the competition, I notice a lack of established poetic forms (sonnets, villanelle, roundel etc.) represented – why is this?
This is due to the fact that, of the large numbers of poems that are entered to the competition, a very, very small fraction of them are written strictly to an established form. However, the competition welcomes all entries, whatever their structure, form, rhyme scheme etc., and there is no reason (as long as they are entered according to the rules) that a poem written to a set form could not, potentially, be successful.
