We have just celebrated one of our greatest Scots and our National Bard, Rabbie Burns. With that in mind and as part of our 400th Anniversary celebrations we are launching a poetry competition entitled ‘A London Scot’. The competition is open to everyone and we hope you will put pen to paper and get involved. All styles of poems will be considered as long as they are based on the theme of a Scot in London and what that means to you. You don’t have to be a Scot in London to enter.

The winning entry, chosen by a select judging panel including A.L Kennedy, will receive a £1000 prize plus. The top 5 poems will also be put on public display in our new offices as well as being printed in ScotsCare Shout. We hope that you will all get involved in the spirit of Rabbie and our anniversary celebrations. The closing date is the 31st of August and the winners will be announced on St Andrew’s Day.

Rules: Poems
- The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over.
- International entries are welcome.
- The closing date of the competition is midnight, 31 August 2011.
- All entries will be considered anonymously by the judges.
- Entries will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
- Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered.
- If you would like confirmation that your postal entry has been received, please include a stamped addressed envelope/postcard with your entry.
- Online entries made via the website will receive automatic confirmation at the time of submission. Telephone or email confirmation of receipt is not available.
- The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice.
- The judges’ decision is final and neither the judges nor ScotsCare staff will enter into any correspondence.
- No ScotsCare employees or trustees or any family member of ScotsCare employees or trustees are eligible to enter the Poetry Competition.
- All entries are judged anonymously and the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself.
- All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length (excluding title).
- Poems must be the original work of the entrant.
- Entries must not have been published, self-published, published on a website or broadcast before March 2011.
- Hand-written entries must be legible. Entries should ideally be typed in black ink on one side of A4 only. Entries can be double or single spaced, please do not staple printed entries. Entries must be written in English.
- Winners and commendations will be notified by 31 September 2011.
- All winners will be asked to provide a biography and photograph.
- The copyright of each poem remains with the author. However, authors of the winning poems, by entering the competition, grant ScotsCare the right to publish and/or broadcast their poem for one year from August 2011.
- Use of the poems elsewhere during this time is subject to permission from ScotsCare.

http://www.scotscare.com/
http://www.scotscare.com/index.php?op ... p;view=article&id=132

Click on the link above and go to the contest official site