Hey, Max, you've provided me with another opportunity to say that I've had a win in The Speccie and The Oldie competitions
with the same poem, but about a year apart. It must be... oh, at least a year since I last mentioned it.
I don't know the number of times I've won but as I subscribe to both magazines I do keep all the copies in which I get even the slightest mensh. Like others have said, though, quite often the topic doesn't float my boat at all, especially the prose comps or political ones. (I don't have a single poem about Corbyn, May, Cameron, Boris, even Trump... none of 'em!)
I'm not interested in winning for winning's sake - I generally strive to submit poems that might be useful additions to my repertoire, for readings, and if I win I read the poem to an audience from the actual magazine; it has more clout that way.
But I love seeing so many of ''us'' on the pages of The Speccie and The Oldie, and get a kick out of declaring "That one's written by my friend... and that one... and that one..."
Jayne