Just wanted to let yall know, we haven't forgotten about you. One judge is completely finished and I'm alllllmost done myself. Hoping to announce winners by next week. 👍

We are currently arguing about our favorites. So just give us a few more days. The arguing stage is the best part!

****WINNERS****

This was the worst to judge because everything was so freaking great. I will break a bottle and defend the writers of newgrounds to anyone talking smack. We have incredibly talented writers here. I thought poetry would be a difficult theme for you guys but you were AMAZING. 

I want to say a HUGE thank you to @Fersto for judging.

I want everyone to know that he and I fought it out for our entries and ultimately needed someone to break a tie for us, we just had too many favorites.

@GoryBlizzard stepped in and broke our tie.

I took SEVEN pages of notes while judging. SEVEN. I loved so many of these entries and hated choosing just 3.

Without further ado.

1st place: @Phobotech with Independence Dog

This was one of my favorites because of the intricate story telling that took place while all at the same time maintaining the rhythm and rhyme. (This was the only entry Fersto and I could truly agree on. We had death match fights about the rest of the entries.)

2nd place: @LuckyDee (Untitled)

I really enjoyed the rhythm on this one and how it flowed, how each line seemed to naturally bounce to the next.

3rd place: @TheVodouQueen with Sunset

I felt very jealous while reading this one, because I wish I wrote this eloquently. love the symbolism, I love the imagery, I love how I could feel this one.

I’d like to list my honorable mentions, some other people whose poems I really enjoyed:

@cast @OlTroutBlossom @GabeMalk @RomVineyard @Tobuu

This was incredibly hard. I hate you all. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS I’m sending the money to @TomFulp now before he sends the mob after me again. 

That's right! Seven said it all. You Newgrounds people know how to write poetry, you beautiful amazing folks. I hope everyone enjoyed participating, I personally enjoyed how many different styles and characteristics you all brought. It was so freaking cool to read everything. Huge big thanks to everyone who was a part of this, organizers, writers, and HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERSSSSSS!!!!

Just read Phobotech’s brilliant work. To maintain that rhyme while continuing to develop the story so well was impressive.

Congrats to the winners!

I do think I'm going to quit this writing lark, can't even make it to honourable mentions!

You're always one of my favorites tho, I promise!

Congratulations phobotech! I know you deserve this more than anyone. I'm so glad for the Honorable mention. This contest meant a lot to me and I'm so happy for everyone. Thanks for participating, everyone. Can't wait for the next contest.

Holy smokes! Thanks so, so much for picking work!

What started out as an exercise in writing song lyrics - which I generally do after all the music has been written, to give me a framework - took a turn after I'd written the first verse and made myself stick to that meter. Then came sticking to the theme, adding in the appropriate symbolism and doing other poemy things to it. I won't be so arrogant as to say the thing wrote itself, but unlike how I normally write song lyrics, I did manage to get into some kind of zone for this - and it's that experience I want to hold on to most, as I think it'll help me improve my writing process in the future.

To everyone who contributed, but especially to @Phobotech and @TheVodouQueen, respect for your work and congratulations. To everyone who wanted to but decided not to run: give it a try next time. Who knows what you can discover about yourself...

And thanks of course to Seven and Fersto for hosting this. Bet your ass I'll be lining up for the next one.

Well it's unfortunate that I didn't win, but still congrats to the winners. I'm still glad I participated.

Thanks a lot to all the participants and of course huge thanks to organizers and judges! Congrats to the winners! You are awesome!

Congrats to the winners!!! (And everyone, really!)

Can't wait till the next contest 😁

Don't worry about it, I'm not looking for sympathy, it's just that writing clearly isn't a talent of mine, and it's not something I can really get enjoyment from, as reading is difficult with dyslexia, so I can't enjoy the work of others, and I can't even look back and enjoy my own work!

I did my best, but I just can't compete with all these talented writers, maybe if you put me in a contest on my own, even then, I'd probably still lose!

Seriously though, y'all got talent.

I'm just as astounded, and don't have much to say other than thank you so much, everyone, for reading my work. :) The appreciation for it and kind words really mean a lot, especially given it's background subject matter (I mentioned what it was in the DISCUSSION thread for the contest.)

It was a real treat to get involved in this. TBH, at first, I considered not doing so, because it had been literal years since the last time I wrote poetry. I had the same problem with the Halloween short-story fiction contest a bit ago--just the avid fear I didn't have it in me to produce something interesting and competent in the writing sphere anymore. But, I'm glad that in some way what I wrote invoked the imagery and feelings I wanted to put across, in a good way.

I also read a good portion of the poems submitted to this contest, and yeah, there's so many bright stars of talent here just waiting to get their time in the limelight, and competitions like these do wonders to--at the very least--let people get creative and show their stuff. So many talented folks--it always feels like I don't deserve any accolades I manage to get in these things because it always feels like there's people with better honed skills that should have them in my stead. Guess it's me eating way too much humble pie, but everyone who submitted deserves a round of applause for such cool stories and poems presented.

Hugest respect for everyone's work. Thanks so much @LuckyDee for the shout out. And the biggest thank you to the judges for this opportunity. Prize or no, it's always great to see these kinds of things so people can flex their creative muscles. :D Also, @VariantSeven, I saw the post about your family. My condolences and I hope all is well. xx

Congrats to the winners. Damn, everybody has talent, great job everybody. :)

Sorry I'm late to the party, thank you to everyone who contributed, and thank you to our wonderful judges!

I would like to volunteer to judge during next years Sum22 writing contest, if for no other reason but to participate in deathmatches arguing over art. Seems fun!

The timing for this competition was kinda nuts for me, and so too was the timing of its results. As I mentioned in the discussion thread (where I was so distracted drafting the poem I suffered a reading comprehension fail, and accidentally posted the poem in the wrong thread.) I was pulling inspiration from a very real place. The events in the poem happened, and it resulted in me calling the cops on my older brother, who pulled a knife on me when I confronted him about a dog he found, adopted, and mistreated after 4th of July.

And now, months later, I was working security at a hospital and I contracted Covid. I'm better now, but I missed weeks of work, and the quarantine compensation is pretty damn light compared to an average paycheck, so this extra cash really helped me this month.

The planets aligned on this one, and I am extremely grateful. Thank you all so much ❤

Personally I loved the poem by @LuckyDee - the song lyric structure read crystal clear to me, and the rhythm and rhyme was fun and engaging- but the judges definitely had a difficult task picking between such stalwart talent in this community. I'm especially proud to be in your company. Bravo everyone 👏 🙌 lets do this again!

The pandemic burdens us all with a looming and droning kind of adveristy. It is sapping, it is worrisome, but in between our obligations, nestled in the free time we have left in the day, what remains is an important task that I don't want you to overlook-- It is up to us, with the creative minds, to render these adverse times with compelling art. That is what defines eras from the eyes of history, and you needn't look far to realise we exist in historic times...please don't groan, I didn't say "unprecedented."

Even if you only make a couple of things, you can look back on what you created and reflect with clarity how far you've come. Your growth. Your experience. You will know exactly where you were in life when you look back on your poems, your stories, your songs, or your art...and there'll be aspects about it that you miss fondly, and there'll be relief in your heart that you survived it. May it bolster your soul to outdo yourself, and make something even better.

This was practice. Keep going, you beautiful weirdos. Create, write, compose...and consider burning your early drafts. Show them all the Problems of the Future Today.

Thanks for the shout-out, and well spoken, man.

And as promised, here's the audio version of my entry. Enjoy!

Sorry I'm late. A big belated congrats to all! Hope to run into you folks next round.