PNO Registration
Before starting registration find a good quiet spot with a table, a trash can and comfortable chairs. You will need pens, a stapler, tape, scissors, letter opener, white out, business size white envelopes, and a few stamps.
All poems are judged without names, but their names are on the Poet’s Night Out Individual Submission Form with the titles of the poems. There is also a check box on the bottom of the form. These are the four requirements needed for the registration process.
______Three copies of each poem
______ Check or Money Order to TADL/Friends
______Completed Submission Form
______Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
The first thing to do is open the envelope of poems etc. check off the three copies of each poem. Label an envelope with $$ and put the check, cash or money order in it. Make sure the submission form is filled out completely. Put the self addressed stamped envelopes in a box or large envelope. If a poet forgets to include a self-addressed stamped envelope, we make one for the person since the address is on the submission form. If there is no stamp on the SASE we put one on it. This happens every once in a while and it is easier to just do it.
Determine if the person submitting the poem or poems is an adult, middle school student or a high school student. Numbers are written in the upper right corner of the Submission Form , middle school numbers 100-299, high school 300-499, and adults 500 and up. Each poet is assigned a number at registration. Poets can submit up to three poems, each poem is given an A, B or C depending how many there are. If there is only one poem, we just leave off the letters and that poem is only designated by the number.
Next the numbers with letters are written on the poems. The first adult with 3 poems will have the poems numbered 500A, 500B, 500C. The A,B,C are placed on the submission form to the left of the poem titles as well as on the corresponding poem. The first middle school poet who submits one poem will be numbered 100 on the upper right submission form and on the three copies of the poem.
One problem we had in the beginning of Poets Night Out was making sure every poem was in each juror’s stack. It is absolutely essential that all three stacks of poems are the same. We solved that problem by placing another number in the upper left hand corner of the submission form. Entrants submit 3 copies of 1-3 poems. In the upper left corner each copy of a poem gets a 1,2 and 3. Then after they are numbered and lettered the one two and three correspond with the stacks they are placed on. Pile 1 for the first juror, pile 2 for PNO use and pile 3 for the second juror. After registration is completed it is easy to go through stack 1 and make sure all the poems are marked with a 1 in the upper left corner, the same for stack 2 and 3.
Classroom Registration
Classroom group registrations cost only $1.00 per 32 line poem. If students want to enter more than one poem they can enter as an individual and for $5.00 enter three poems. Some students write poetry on their own and we want to accommodate those who want to enter on their own or who are in classrooms who do not participate in Poets’ Night Out.
Students in classrooms who enter also submit three copies of one poem, a classroom registration form is submitted for each class and the teacher includes a large SASE. Some teachers have their students fill out the paperwork and we have had instances where we have the poems without names or the names without poems. So in that case I have added a an individual student registration form to be attached to the three copies of the student’s poem and filled out by the student. Some teachers may prefer the classroom registration, some may want to use the individual student form. PNO has no preference the information is the same on both. In the case of the classroom group registration and/or the individual student registration we put numbers on these, the poems and put the poems in the same three piles just like we do the adults
One of our ongoing problems with student submissions is not being able to read their writing. I have added a note on the student registration form to write carefully so someone who doesn’t know you can figure out your name.
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