[Wintaka]

Max Goodman divined:

"We must be using 'style' differently, Wintaka."

It may be a question of dimensions. Imagine someone, deliberately or subconsciously, writing in the style of Wallace Stevens or Philip Larkin. I'd expect most parodists, students and fans could create reasonable facsimiles, just as I'd expect the difference in quality to be obvious to any competent judge.

Max Goodman observed:

"...a contest has to assume it will get worthy entries from at least as many poets as it has prizes."

Exactly. For what it's worth, I've seen many contests, including one of the largest in North America, where none of the submissions were...retina-friendly...such that if the average Eratospherean did not sweep the podium I'd want the judges drug tested. That this doesn't happen more often causes me to wonder how many events have an unstated rule against multiple wins by one entrant. IMHO, that would be, at best, an oversight.

Best regards,

Colin