HubPages is a vast site, full of many, many different subcommunities of writers and enthusiasts. Some of the strongest communities on our site are comprised of the artistically-inclined: poets, fiction writers, and photographers. To celebrate these amazing artists, we decided to make our next contest all about prose, poetry and photos!
Enter the HubPatron of the Arts Contest– HubPages’ first ever contest dedicated entirely to the Poems and Poetry, Creative Writing, and Photo Galleries categories. Where in previous contests, judges looked for utility, how-to guides, and oodles of didactic information, judges in this contest will focus exclusively on artistry, quality, and the emotions that entries evoke.
Another novel aspect of this contest involves the way in which judging will take place. Instead of having staff do all the judging, or outsourcing judging to outside experts, we assembled three panels to the top poetry, prose, and photos experts on HubPages.com.
We will be giving away over $3,000 in prizes, including a special Smashwords-sponsored prize given to one of the First Place winners in the contest. The Smashwords winner will have the opportunity to have a collection of his or her work formatted, published, and distributed as an ebook, which is pretty exciting!
The full details are below. Also, be sure visit our official contest page, where you can review submission requirements and rules in their entirety. We look forward to reading your entries!
- $1050 in $50 Daily Drawing Prizes (One Daily Drawing winner is selected at random from each day’s entries)
- $500 Grand Prize for First Place Poem
- $100 for Second Place Poem
- $50 for Third Place Poem
- $500 Grand Prize for First Place Fictional Creative Writing
- $100 for Second Place Creative Writing
- $50 for Third Place Creative Writing
- $500 Grand Prize for First Place Image Gallery
- $100 for Second Place Photo Gallery
- $50 for Third Place Photo Gallery
- Smashwords Prize
- The opportunity to have a collection of the author’s work published as an ebook
- Awarded to one of the three Grand Prize winners (chosen by HubPages staff judges)
- Includes free formatting, a free ebook cover, free publishing, and free distribution as an ebook to major ebook retailers including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store.
How to enter:
- Join HubPages
- Create an entry (keeping in mind the qualifying requirements and judging criteria) within the Poems and Poetry, Creative Writing, or Photo Galleries category.
- Add the tag: contest
- Publish your Hub!
Qualifying Requirements:
- Contain a minimum of 500 words (if the entry is a photo gallery or poem, an explanation of the poem or description of the photos is required)
- Be properly categorized within the fictional story, poem, or image gallery category on HubPages
- Have at least one image, and all images must be legally used (see our Learning Center guide on legal image use)
- Be published for the first time on that given contest day
- Be entirely original to HubPages
Judging Criteria:
Each panel of judges will be evaluating the entries in its section based on…
- The quality of writing or photos
- The originality of writing or photos
- The emotional/aesthetic impact of writing or photos
- Good, attractive formatting
HubPages Judges:
- Poetry Panel
- Drax
- epigramman
- Nellieanna
- RebekahElle
- Saddlerider1
- HubPages Staff Representative: Camille Harris
- Prose Panel
- Alastar Packer
- glassvisage
- lmmartin
- Wayne Brown
- HubPages Staff Representative: Pia Chatterjee
- Photos Panel
- stephhicks68
- Marye Audet
- leahlefler
- sofs
- SilverGenes
- HubPages Staff Representative: Simone Smith
Timing:
- Entries may first be submitted Tuesday, November 1st at 12:00pm (PT)
- The final deadline for entries is Tuesday, November 22nd at 12:00pm (PT)
- Daily Drawing prize winners will be announced every weekday around 4:00pm (PT)
- Smashwords, First, Second, and Third Place prizes will be announced Friday, December 2nd at 4:00pm (PT)
HubPages Blog 
I am SO excited! One storyline has been in my mind for years. This is the time to bring it out. And photography?! Oh yeah. There are some great writers and photographers here in Hubland. Even the lineup of judges makes me gulp, but my fingers are already ready to click a shutter release and grab a pencil. I can barely wait! Is it November yet?
As a creative writer and a photographer, this is a great opportunity to showcase my work. I have actually waited for this kind of contest on hubpages.
At this moment I’m not thinking about winning the contest, all I think is exposure. Some of the judges are the hub authors I very much admire. I want to win their hearts.
I love the way this contest is designed and think it will be a great opportunity for Hubbers who love the creative and artistic aspects of writing great hubs. I look forward to making submissions.
I’m excited to be part of the poetry panel and want to thank HP for the privilege. I’m looking forward to reading some great poetry from the amazing arts community here at HubPages. Good luck to everyone!
Please clarify the daily drawing. The sum of $1050 permits only 21 $50 awards, i.e. one from all entries for each day. To grant $50 to an entry from each category would require $150 per day, or a total of $3150 for the 21 days of the contest.
I can’t wait to see your entries, y’all!
And we’re so honored to have you on as a judge, Rebekah!!
Howard S. – there is $1050 in Daily Drawing prizes because one entry from each category will win $50 each day. One from photos, one from prose, and one from poetry. Pretty neat, huh?
I think I might like this contest. I am wondering about the word count though. It is hard to write a poem of 500 words, which in itself would be an epic poem. Also poetry, in essence, should not be explained at all but experienced by the reader. That being said, would it be possible to put more than one poem to a hub?
The poetry contest is all the rage
So join yourself up create a hubpage
Write your poem and win lots of cash
Or post your photos we will have a bash
We will not forget those who write prose
There money for them too you may win who knows!
The contest is great and we can all have fun
Consider the contest a creative writing lesson.
LOL that is not my first entry, just so you know. Just something I tossed together for my comment here.
I am excited about this and my brain is already ticking over. Its going to be so much fun reading all of the entries.
A couple of questions though
Firstly I am a little confused. There are 3 catagories, poetry, prose and photography. So where does the creative writing for short stories fit into this?
Secondly are we able to submit more than one entry in a single catagory?
I am a new comer to HubPages (two days) and this is a great way to start my journey here. I am learning new things everyday. I am very excited about this contest. I have written only two hubs so far but I was just so excited to jump right in. Now that I am exploring and finding new ways to get more money, I think I am hooked! Thank you hub team for this perfect opportunity. So many great unknown writers here I am anticipating reading some transforming poetry and photography that inspires the whole community. Thanks look for my work I am on it. ~ Blessings
Something tells me, SirDent, that you are going to do quite well in this contest! You do not need to write 500 word poems to enter. The poems can be as short as you like so long as you offer an explanation or overview of the poem that makes up for the difference. The total word count of the entire Hub needs to be 500 words, that’s all!
Rosemay50- the creative writing entries are prose; they’re submitted via the Creative Writing category. And you can absolutely submit entries in more than one category! Just no more than five entries total per day.
Welcome to HubPages, Poeticmentor!!!
I am so excited to hear about this! What a wonderful opportunity for all of the poets, photographers, and writers of fiction, who are sometimes overlooked in the on-line writing world! I am not only looking forward with great anticipation toward reading all of the wonderful work I know will be coming, and I have a zillion or more ideas already pinging around the inside of my brain!
Wouldn’t it be boring to read a poem of 500 words? Somebody please clarify me on this.
Can a collection of poems with 500 words be accepted as one entry?
What is it like? Previous winners please give us a hint.
Will bribes be accepted?
Dearest Some One Else Who is Not Greek One- please let it be known that all bribes should be directed to Her Imperial Majesty, Simone Haruko Smith.
And Ubanichijioke- the poems do not need to be 500 words; the entire content of the entry must be 500 words. So, for example, a short haiku can be complimented by a 400-something word explanation. Hope that clears things up!
I am really looking forward to this contest and may want to enter two of the categories, since I don’t do fiction. Do non-fiction personal stories count here? I’m also confused about the photo gallery category. I have looked over some of the samples given under that category, and they raised more questions than answers. Are there any specific structure guidelines for what constitutes a photo gallery?
Do all photos need to be original work from the author or may other photos taken by friends at the same event also be used with permission? If these photos so not appear anywhere online and have no specific license, can they be just attributed to the photographer with a “used by permission of” note? Can one also use author-produced videos in the photo gallery? I see some of the examples use videos and photos other than their own, but they weren’t contest entries.
In a photo gallery, do words in photo captions count toward the 500 words, or do all the words need to be in text capsules? Do words in polls count?
The idea I’m playing with is a very short poem with numerous illustrations and possibly a video. I’m not sure whether this would fit best in poetry or photo gallery. Any recommendation here? It would sort of be a poem with a photo essay that expands the meaning of the poem.
Hi Simone
Does it have to be a photo image in a poem or are we able to link to a video instead of
Thanks
SImone, I mean Your Imperial Majesty Queen of the known Universe and Beyond, I will only do well if my poems are chosen for prizes. That s the ultimate goal of a writer.
I tried to bribe my way to get myself a prize
Then one day it happened right before my eyes
The Imperial Queen reported that I had won
I claimed the prize of money and thought I was done
.
The next day as I worked to write another
I got it finished and then wrote about my mother
My prize had been revoked taken back because of cheating
I see my bank account abruptly receding.
LOL, I’m trying to get in the mood. I hope my flattery, I mean accolades will help me in some way to get a prize in this contest.
Excellent questions, Barbara Radisavljevic. Anything that makes sense within the creative writing category, personal and nonfiction or otherwise, totally counts.
As for photo galleries: all we really require is that the photos be entirely original and accompanied by at least 500 words. Captions on the photos counts, as do words in poll and other capsules. I’d be careful using photos taken by others since they technically have the copyright to those photos. Even if you have permission, I’d stick with only photos you’ve taken if you want to submit a photo gallery entry.
Rosemay50: Each entry must have at least one high quality, legally used (especially: properly attributed) photo. Just a video will not be enough, though video additions are welcome!
SirDent, why do I have the feeling that you are going to pwn this category?
Thank you for your answers, Simone. You realize I will have to make myself write poetry again after many years of not doing it. I guess I should thank you for that.
One questions about images. Since I will most likely only enter the poetry portion of this contest, can the image used be a user created graphic made with Paint Shop Pro or a similar program?
Thanks for the vote of confidence in me, but silly poems will not make the cut, most likely I mean unless I have someone on the inside. No poem this time. I am saving my creativity for later. 😛
LOL, I have a question. is it OK if we go ahead and put our poems onsite without publishing them?
That’s so fantastic, Barbara!! I’m so glad you’ll be diving back in to poetry!
And good question, SirDent! Because the “photo galleries” category is under the pictures and videos section, I think it’s best to stick with just photographs.
And you can simply save a Hub as a draft (click the “save unpublished” button) before the contest starts if you wold like to submit it as an entry in the contest 😀
Thank you very much for answering my questions Your Imperial Majesty Queen of the known Universe and Beyond.
I hope I get lots of brownie points here.
Hi everyone! I’m real excited about this contest. I’ve been working hard on my entries. Questions: Is there one random winner per day and one chosen winner for the day? And are all hubs submitted on any day during the contest eligible for the daily random drawing?
And I wish we could also enter our art done in other programs…I have a bunch of work I’ve done in Adobe Illustrator. i would love also to see others artwork. I think it would be a great addition to the “arts” contest.
Hey Dorsi! To answer your question, there is one daily drawing prize every day, and there’s also a first, second, and third prize for each category. And all Hubs submitted per day that meet the qualifying requirements are eligible for the Daily Drawing and final prizes.
And that’s an excellent suggestion. It’s too late to change the rules now, but we’ll keep that in mind for a future contest!
1) I’m having a heck of a time trying to figure out where contest stuff is posted. Things from the blog don’t show up in a search. I hope this works for comments because I can’t find anything in the forums for the contest. The official contest website link turned up broken today in my hub on Photo Capsule Advanced Techniques. It still works if I remove the referral code–maybe HP doesn’t want referrals, but I do!
2) I challenge Simone to get engineering to confirm the answer given to Barbara R. on Oct. 5 that the 500-word minimum can appear in any kind of capsules. From my testing, it is only words from text capsules that advance the word count given in the stats window. I would expect you to be using that word count. Or do you really count everything, but only report to us what is in the text capsules? Let’s be consistent, OK!
Hey Howard!
Our contest page is here: http://hubpages.com/static/hubpatron_of_the_arts.php
Our official contest forum thread is here: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/86025
And regarding word count: We count everything. 😀
Thanks for the other link. I’ll try that one with a referral tracker.
If everything counts for word count, it would be helpful for us to know how many words there are. We need 500 words for the contest (and 50 words per ad), but only what is in text capsules is reported in the stats box. That means I have to pull out my slide rule!
Thanks for replying!
Howard, the easy way to go would be to put all of your text in actual text capsules, though if you want to do otherwise, you can cut and paste the text from the preview view into this: http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/countwords.shtml
Alternately, you can write everything ahead of time in a word document!
And just to clarify, there has to be at least 50 words for every Amazon/eBay product featured in a Hub- not general ads. I hope that clears things up!
Simone, does this mean that a hub posted on say Nov 1st will be eligible for judging each and every day?
Tranquilheart, entries submitted each day shall be judged at the end of the contest with all the entries in their categories. Entries submitted each day of the contest are also up for the Daily Drawing prize, which is randomly selected, but only for the day on which they are entered.