2015 April PAD Challenge: Screening Readers

Are you ready for the 2015 April PAD Challenge? I know I am! (Check out the guidelines here.) The prompts are ready. The guest judges are confirmed (check them out…

Are you ready for the 2015 April PAD Challenge? I know I am! (Check out the guidelines here.)

Poem Your Heart Out, Volume 2

The prompts are ready. The guest judges are confirmed (check them out here). And we have a cover design for the Poem Your Heart Out, volume 2 anthology. There's just one more thing...

I enjoyed reading through every single comment last year and narrowing each day down to a finalist list for the guest judges. However, it's the one part of the process that slowed everything else. Several poets suggested using screening readers to help narrow down the poems, and many volunteered themselves.

So I've decided to put out an official call for anyone interested in volunteering to screen through a day of poems. While reading through the entire challenge is pretty epic (still not sure how I did it), handling one day is more manageable (though still a lot of reading).

If you're interested, here's what I need from you:

  • Please send an e-mail to robert.brewer@fwcommunity.com with the subject line: Screening Reader.
  • Let me know that you're interested in being a reader for one day of the challenge, but also let me know a little about yourself.
  • Include your writing history, credits (if any), etc., but also...
  • Include your reading history: Which poets do you like to read? Name a collection or three you've really enjoyed in the past year.

I'll evaluate potential readers as I receive them, and then, we'll discuss how best to handle the reading/narrowing process.

Note: You can be a reader and participate in the challenge. I'll still be making final decisions, so I'm not concerned about a conflict of interest developing.

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.