MuslimMatters.org Discourses in the Intellectual Traditions, Political Situation, and Social Ethics of Muslim Life
** Announcement, 29/08/2010 **
The first batch of semifinalists has been published! Check it out, and get voting!
http://muslimmatters.org/2010/08/29/ramadan-2010-mm-poetry-contest-semifinalists-day-1/
***
It has been two years since our last Ramadan competition. In 2008, we were blessed to receive many wonderful short stories written by our talented readers. This time, we'd like the inspiration to flow in the form of poetry.
- Theme: The beautiful month of Ramadan – and all the precious things associated with it, i.e., Qur'an, fasting, self-sacrifice, charity, the Nights of Power, and much, much more.
- Style: Traditional, abstract, rhyming, non-rhyming, spoken word, haiku, iambic pentameter… anything goes. As long as it's poetic and inspirational.
- Format: Poems may be submitted as either standard text, imagery (i.e., a poem on an image background), or as a video (max. duration: 3 minutes).
- Submission details: Entries should be submitted to art[@]muslimmatters.org with the subject: “Ramadan Poetry Contest”, between the 1st and 10th day of Ramadan, inclusive (according to the MM calendar). Videos entries should be first uploaded to YouTube, and the link emailed to the above address. The video description should include the line: “Submission to MuslimMatters.org's Ramadan 2010 Poetry Contest: http://art.muslimmatters.org”, and “MuslimMatters Ramadan Poetry Contest” as a tag.
- Voting: Submissions that conform with MM rules will be published on MuslimMatters between 11th-20th Ramadan, where readers will be allowed to vote for their favourite entries. The winners will then be picked from the 'favourited' pool by a panel of MM judges.
- Prizes: A cash prize (USD) will be given to the winner, and the same amount donated in their name to charity; a reward for dunya, and a reward for akhira:
- 1st place: $250 to winner, and $250 to charity.
- 2nd place: $100 to winner, and $100 to charity.
- 3rd place: $50 to winner, and $50 to charity.
- Winners will be announced on 'Īd-ul-Fitr, inshā'Allāh.
Please make sure to read and comply with the following terms and conditions:
- One submission allowed per entrant.
- The poem must be original, and not previously published.
- Entrants must have permission to use the text, images and/or sounds (as relevant) included in their submission. For example, no ripping off nasheed artists, or stealing pictures from Google images! Please respect the work of others.
- By entering the contest, the entrant gives MuslimMatters.org permission to reproduce their submission.
- All material should be suitable for “family-viewing”; offensive or obscene content will obviously not be permitted.
- In the case of imagery, any featured male and/or female subjects should be covered according to proper Islamic guidelines.
- The video soundtrack must not include musical instrumentation. Voice-only please.
- MuslimMatters reserves the right to not publish any submitted material, and to change any aspect of the contest at any time, at our own discretion.
Now you've read the rules, get working on your poem! We look forward to your submissions. Make sure to spread the word.
It’s a little difficult to find the winning submissions from 2008, can a link be posted please? They should be fun to read =D}
Good idea! Here’s a link to the six finalist stories from 2008:
http://muslimmatters.org/2008/10/19/readers-poll-your-favourite-ramadan-short-story-100-top-prize/
Hey does anyone know where we can see the published poems so that we can vote?? Thanks
Assalamu ‘alaykum,
Is there a minimum/maximum limit on number of words?
w/s… Sr Mehzabeen, feel free to correct me,
the answer is no… no min or max
No word limit, but you may want to avoid submitting epics! Remember your audience. :)
Is there a language specification for this contest? Can I submit a poem in Arabic?
The majority of our readers won’t be able to appreciate an Arabic poem (as much as we want to!). Considering that your poem will be subject to public vote, it may not reach the final round. Therefore I suggest that you submit it in Arabic with an English translation.
The same applies for other languages, I guess. :)
Which moon-sighting fiqhi opinion is this under? =P}
whichever is easy on people? the earliest 1st and the latest 10th :)
we are nice people :)
I sent in my entry at the email address but got an email saying
Message will be retried for 2 more day(s)
Technical details of temporary failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 451 451 Temporary local problem – please try later (state 14).
What should i do?
Salam sis
Please resend it, as the email should be working now. I think it was affected by all the server problems we had over the weekend. But I just tested it myself, and the email got through. I look forward to see your poem, insha’Allah. :)
Ramadan is a pretty general and wide subject for a poem. Is there anything we should focus on specifically?
It’s wide for a reason… as long as the theme is connected in some way, please feel free to explore the topic. :)
Is there an age requirement? Do you have to be a certain age to enter?
between 2 and 120 :)
That would be a very talented 2 yr old!
lol!
Is this competition limited to those in the U.S. only? Or is it worldwide?
Competition is open to all readers of MM, wherever they are based.
Assalamualaikum,
How many submissions so far? (Just checking out the competition…………….)
I used the poll archives to scope the competition:
Joining the poetry contest and winning (ajr + $)! (9%, 31 Votes)
Not that many so far… I’m hoping there will be a last minute rush, insha’Allah!
how will people vote?
if they have a membership on mm?
We will publish the submitted poems, and readers will vote via an embedded poll. No membership required. :)
Salams,
I was wondering where I could read some of the winning poems from the last couple of years? Just to get the feel of it :) thanks!
Salam
Sorry, no… this is our first poetry competition! :)
But here’s a link to the six finalists from the 2008 short story competition:
http://muslimmatters.org/2008/10/19/readers-poll-your-favourite-ramadan-short-story-100-top-prize/
What rhymes with sacrifice?
“Google”? ;)
http://www.rhymer.com/RhymingDictionary/sacrifice.html
Salaams,
I was just wondering, when we send our poem do we need to put any personal information attached to it like our address, telephone, etc.?
Salam
Your name, and if you wish, your age and general location will suffice, insha’Allah. We don’t require other contact details at this stage. :)
Assalamualaikum,
What if you already sent it in with only your name?
Wa ‘alaykum salam
Name & email address (which we have when you send in your poem…) is bare minimum info required. If people want to share anything else, they’re welcome to (within the limits of modesty, decency, and common sense). ;)
Either I’ve got writer’s block, or Ramadan is too incredible to put words to. This is harder than I thought it would be. :/
took me a really really really long time to write. good luck!! :-)
JazakAllah! I’ve actually finally gotten something going, so Insha Allah it turns out well. :)
Assalamu Alaikum,
Quick question: When emailing the poem, should it be as a Word file, or just as text in the body of the email?
Wacalaykum Salaam
i try to reply insha allah
not only a word file, it become more like a word file , pdf file , pictures and etc; it depends on your selection
Wa ‘alaykum salam
Either route will suffice if you are submitting plain text. A .txt file is also good.
For anyone submitting images, please ensure it is in jpeg form so we can embed it properly in the post.
If you’ve already submitted something in another format, then I’ll contact you if we have problems opening it.
Was a pdf okay to send or should I have sent the word file??
We’ve received several pdfs, so don’t worry… though word doc is easier to copy/paste when it comes to text.
When can people start voting?
Soon, insha’Allah! We first have to sort through all the entries… eep!
Asalaamualaikum. Okay well I just threw something together last minute and submitted it. I hope it’s okay for the contest and wish everybody the best with their entries. Alhamduilillah!
Assalam Alaikum,
I just wanted to ask as to what do we do if we wish to send an edited version of a poem we’ve already sent?
Anyway, I’ve just emailed the edited version of my poem with the subject: “Ramadan Poetry Contest (Final, edited version of my poem).” I hope this version’s considered instead of the one I sent before. Thanks. :)
Wa ‘alaykum salam.
Edited version was received before deadline, so it is acceptable (but only once – we don’t want 100s of drafts!). ;) Will keep an eye out for it, insha’Allah.
** Announcement **
The Ramadan Poetry Contest closes at 1800 GMT, 21st August, 2010 (10th of Ramadan in many places!). Due to the overwhelming number of entries we’ve received, masha’Allah, we will be quite strict about the deadline. So please make sure your entry is in by the stated time! JazakumAllah khair.
***
so if it’s one minute late you won’t accept it? :) :-)
Mine was a little late … eek. D:
Assalam o alikum……
i sent my poem but forgot to write my details….but my name is on my e mail address…there should be no problem right?
Wa ‘alaykum salam
If you want to send in your name, you still can… otherwise name on email header will be used. :)
hey i was wondering how it’d be fair, if readers were using online polling, because somebody could simply tell his 100 bajillion friends and extended family to vote for him, and that wouldn’t be fair/accurate no?
We hope that no-one cheats, and that people vote for the poems they like the best, and not just cuz they know the author… but the ‘wrong man’ winning is the risk of every democratic election. :)
Where can we vote?
I don’t see any links on this page … :(
Salam everyone
Sorry for keeping you in suspense over the past few days. The MM team are working on a new strategy for dealing with the 70+ poems we’ve received, masha’Allah! It is likely that we will narrow down the entries to our favourite 20, and then publish them for public voting. The poems will start to go up this week, insha’Allah, so keep checking the site for announcements.
Wa’salam
70 + poems! no way! I feel sorry for those who have to sort through the poems and for all the poets. That’s a lot of competition!
Agreed! 70+ was definitely not what I was expecting, but Masha Allah. This should be fun. :)
Can you please correct a typing mistake in my poem? It is not “fast stop whenâ€. It is “fast stop you whenâ€. (line 15)
** Annnouncement **
The first batch of semifinalists has been published! Check it out here, and get voting! :)
http://muslimmatters.org/2010/08/29/ramadan-2010-mm-poetry-contest-semifinalists-day-1/