I am with Julie in thinking that this is, perhaps, a not entirely proper matter for a thread though perhaps for a different reason.
A poem that has been heavily workshopped surely can no longer claim to be entirely the work of the author (of the rest of it!). This should surely disqualify it from eligibility for entry to a competition -- most of which require that entries are solely the work of he/she who submits it.
People who want to win comps. should learn by reading the work of those who already can and do, and thus develop the skill and confidence to submit their OWN work. Minor suggestions by friends may be ok; but committee-type workshopping of comp. entries is, for me, bordering on misrepresentation as well as being all too likely to produce the proverbial lumpy camel rather than an elegant horse.
I suspect this theory will not go down well on a site which goes in for a lot of serious workshopping. But I have raised my head over the parapet -- with tin hat in place -- and await incoming fire!
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