September 15th, 2024
Welcome, poets of the world.
In the English language, there is a poet of such renown,
he is known simply as, "the Bard."
Through centuries and revolutions and technological advances,
the Bard's words still resound throughout the lands.
Truly, all the world's a stage.
But this is not the world of the Bard any longer –
This is a New World.
New cultures, voices, perspectives, and poetic traditions,
all enfolded into one English language.
One day, a new voice will inhale
the reality of this new world,
and exhale words
that future generations will hail
as the most sage, most eloquent, and most beautiful.
Shakespeare's Pen is a symbol of poetic excellence. Like Excalibur in the rock, Shakespeare's Pen waits for the poet who will claim it with the brilliance of their words.
Unlike the old days of centuries ago, in this modern time, Angela and Aina vie equally with Arthur. All who possess the English language vie equally.
Shakespeare's Pen is a light that calls to all those whose heart bursts with poetry.
The whole world will come, but only one poet will claim the right to wield the light of Shakespeare's Pen.
In addition to winning the personal honour of wielding Shakespeare's Pen, the winner acquires Shakespeare's Pen Magazine for their country for a full year. Only poets from that country will be allowed to submit to Shakespeare's Pen Magazine. Thus, in the fashion of a true hero, the Wielder of Shakespeare's Pen shines light on poets in their home country, creating new spaces for the words of their countrymates to be seen by the world.
Wax Poetry and Art calls all poets from around the world to vie for Shakespeare's Pen. Submit your best, most authentic, most exquisite poems.
Stage One: The Contests
In the first stage of competition, poets will compete in five contests, hosted by five different publications on the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
Contest winners will be notified that they have won and are proceeding to the next stage. (Continue reading for full details)
Stage Two: Awarding of Titles and Publication
When the five contest winners are published on May 15th, 2025, they will compete against each other for three titles.
The awarding of titles will be revealed at the time of publication, as follows.
Wielder of Shakespeare's Pen – First Place
Rival of Shakespeare's Pen
(a.k.a. Wielder of Marlowe's Pen) – Second Place
– During Shakespeare's era, he had a contemporary rival, Christopher Marlowe.
Peer of Shakespeare's Pen – Third to Fifth Place
Hall of Legends
All five winners will be permanently honoured in the Hall of Legends at Shakespeare's Pen Magazine.
Overall Winner – The Wielder of Shakespeare's Pen
The poet awarded as Wielder of Shakespeare's Pen will receive additional acclaim for winning Shakespeare's Pen Magazine for their country.
That poet will also receive a $50 CAD royalty advance, sent within 30 days following publication of their poem.
Challengers for Shakespeare's Pen compete in th following five contests, each hosted by a different Wax Poetry and Art publication. The winners will be published in the publication hosting the contest and will also appear in the Shakespeare's Pen Collection, which will be published in the Library. The contests are listed alphabetically.
Shakespeare's Pen: Africa Contest
– Open to submissions from everyone in Africa.
– Hosted by South Africa Poetry Magazine.
Shakespeare's Pen: The Americas Contest
– Open to submissions from everyone in North and South America.
– Hosted by Canada Poetry Magazine.
Shakespeare's Pen: Asia and Oceania Contest
– Open to submissions from everyone in Asia and Oceania.
– Hosted by India Poetry Magazine.
Shakespeare's Pen: Europe Contest
– Open to submissions from everyone in Europe.
– Hosted by Edinburgh Poetry Magazine.
Shakespeare's Pen: International Contest
– Open to submissions from everyone living everywhere in the world.
– Hosted by Australia Poetry Magazine.
Two Submissions Permitted
All poets are eligible for two of the contests.
Once for the regional contest, based on where they live, and a second time for the International Contest.
Poets can only win one contest, however.
Use the following guidelines for each submission.
Shakespeare's Pen is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network. Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions page to view current opportunities on the entire Network.
Visit the Wax Poetry and Art About page to read the Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy, and to learn more about Wax Poetry and Art. Use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.
Shakespeare's Pen is published, edited, and designed in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada by Kirk Ramdath. Nanaimo is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation of the Coast Salish People.
Select a Contest
Select the contest you want to enter and use the Contest Name as indicated in the submission guidelines.
Contest Names:
– Shakespeare's Pen: Africa Contest
– Shakespeare's Pen: The Americas Contest
– Shakespeare's Pen: Asia and Oceania Contest
– Shakespeare's Pen: Europe Contest
– Shakespeare's Pen: International Contest
Essential details:
– Free to enter.
– Submissions close January 14th, 2025.
– Submit one poem.
– There is no initial cash prize, except for the overall winner of all five contests.
– First Place will be chosen.
– Simultaneous submissions are not allowed.
– Winners will be notified by March 15th, 2025.
– Read and follow guidelines carefully to submit.
You must agree with the terms on this page to make a submission to this contest. Your submission will be considered proof of your agreement and as such, no additional contract will be required for publication to proceed.
Contest Name
Place the Contest Name at the beginnning of your submission.
Agreement Statement
You must include the following statement with your submission:
"I agree with the guidelines for submissions to the Shakespeare's Pen Contests."
Submissions are open to everyone living in the specified regions of the contest, as described above, and by the Contest Name.
Please prepare your submission carefully. Every aspect of these submission guidelines is designed to make the publication process efficient and transparent, from the time of submission and into perpetuity. This means that the guidelines are very thorough and must be read carefully, especially if this is your first visit to a Wax Poetry and Art publication. This reduces processing time and queries and allows the publication so spend more time reviewing and publishing, instead of dealing with administrative matters. Only correctly formatted submissions will proceed to the review stage.
Submission Deadline
Submissions close at midnight on January 14th, 2025.
Contest Submission Timeline:
Note About Time Zones
Please note that dates and times are based on the time zone where the magazine is published in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada –
Pacific Daylight Savings Time, GMT-7.
London and Lagos are 8 hrs ahead, Mumbai is 12.5 hrs ahead, and Sydney is 17 hrs ahead.
The following time display shows the current date and time in Nanaimo.
Once the date on the display shows January 15th, May 15th, and September 15th, a new submission period has begun, the previous period has ended,
and submissions will be considered accordingly.
You may need to submit earlier, or later than midnight your local time, to qualify for your intended submission period.
Please plan accordingly.
Submission Period
September 15th, 2024 to January 14th, 2025.
Acceptance Notice
Receive acceptance notice by March 15th, 2025.
Publication Date
Publication on May 15th, 2025.
Language of Publication
The language of publication is English.
Limited use of a few words using indigenous languages or local terms is acceptable when appropriate, if translations are provided in the notes.
Use phonetic English spellings for words in languages that have non-Latin character sets so that English-language readers
will be able to read and pronounce the words. (eg. Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, Greek, etc.)
Number of Poems
Submit one poem.
Previously Unpublished and Original
The work submitted must be previously unpublished and completely original to the author.
If accepted, the work must also remain unpublished until it is published by Wax Poetry and Art.
Work that has been published by another publication, shared on a public social media post,
or shared publicly in another medium such as an audio or video recording is considered as published.
Work that is previously shared in a private forum such as a private Facebook post, or is read or displayed at an event,
is not considered as published and may be submitted.
Other Criteria
Currently, there is no criteria for number or lines or word count.
Underage Artists (Less than 18 Years Old)
Persons under 18 years old are welcome to submit with the permission of a parent or guardian who has read these guidelines and agreed to them.
These guidelines form a legally binding contract once a submission is made, so a person of legal age must give consent.
Persons under 18 must include their Date of Birth and the name of the parent or guardian who has read these guidelines and granted permission.
Note to Parents: Most of the work published in this magazine is appropriate for a general audience.
However, this magazine may contain any theme within the scope of art, including mature themes.
This magazine is not intended for young children and parental guidance is advised.
Prohibition on AI-generated Text and Images
Submissions found to contain text or imagery generated by artificial intelligence (AI) will be automatically discarded
and the submitter will be permanently prohibited from submitting to any publications published and edited by myself, Kirk Ramdath.
Prohibition on Harmful Content
As per the Code of Conduct, work that is considered harmful toward any group of people will not be considered.
Work that uses derogatory terms for women or marginalized people will not be considered.
Biography
Include a short biography, approximately 100 words, maximum.
Please do not list more than five previous publications.
If you have social media artist pages, you can include links at the end of your biography.
Long biographies will be truncated at the editor's discretion.
The biography should be a short description of the artist can comprise, for example, previously published work,
hobbies and interests, general motivations for being creative, social media pages, etc.
The biography should not be a note about the submitted work.
If it is necessary to include a note about the work, place the note at the end of the work, not within your biography.
Special Biography Rules for Artist Pages
As of 2024, all published artists receive their own Wax Poetry and Art Artist Page.
If you already have an Artist Page, you can submit normally.
However, you do not need to include a biography as your Artist Page already contains your biography.
If you already have an Artist Page, you will not be penalized if you do not include a biography.
Instead of submitting a biography, include the link to your Artist Page.
To update the biography on your Artist Page, specify that you are submitting an "Updated Biography" in your new submission.
If your new submission is accepted, your biography will be updated.
This is the only way to update the biography on your Artist Page.
If you have an Artist Page and you include a biography without specifying that it is an Updated Biography,
your biography will not be updated, even if your work is accepted.
Legal Name and Mailing, Postal, or Residential Address
Include your legal name, if different from your artist name, and complete mailing address
including street number, street name, city, province / state, country, postal code, and optional phone / WhatsApp number.
Notice of Receipt of Your Submission
All submissions will receive an automated reply confirming that the email containing your submission has been received.
If your submission is correctly formatted, within 30 days, you will receive confirmation that your submission is correct and will proceed to the review stage.
Submission Queries: Wait 30 Days
Unfortunately, some email servers may send the automated reply to your junk mail folder, or otherwise prevent it from reaching your inbox.
This does not mean that your message has not been received.
If 30 days passes from the time you sent your submission, and you are certain that your submission was correctly formatted,
send a query about your submission.
Do not send a query until after 30 days passes.
Incorrect Submissions Expire After 30 Days
If your submission is not correctly formatted, you will not receive a followup message after the initial automated response.
After 30 days, your submission will expire and will not be considered.
If your submission expires and you still wish to submit, review the submission guidelines, review your submission,
make necessary changes, and send an updated submission before the submission deadline to be considered for the current submission period.
See rules for updating submissions, below.
Please note that your submission date is based on when the correctly formatted submission is received.
Simultaneous Submissions: No
Simultaneous submissions are not allowed.
Do not submit the same work anywhere else until the results are posted.
Work may not be simultaneously submitted to more than one Wax Poetry and Art submission stream.
You must submit different works for each opportunity.
Additional Submissions: No
You can make a submission to this opportunity only once per submission period.
Additional submissions will be disregarded.
If the additional submission is not noticed initially, it will be disregarded during the review process.
To submit different works, visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions page,
find another opportunity that you are eligible for, and make a new submission to that opportunity.
Updating Submissions
The best practice is to spend time and consideration preparing your submission.
Edit your work carefully and be certain you are ready to submit the final version of your work.
If necessary, you can update your submission once only.
You must send the update before the submission deadline.
After the submission deadline, a submission cannot be updated.
To update your submission, send a new submisson containing all required components,
making sure to add the word, "UPDATED" to the email subject header and the beginning of the email.
Your original submission will be deleted and replaced by the Updated Submission.
If you do not specify that it is an Updated Submission,
it may be considered as an Additional Submission and disregarded.
Withdrawing Submissions
Until the submission deadline, you can withdraw your submission with an email without the need to provide an explanation.
After the submission deadline passes and the review period begins, withdrawing your submission can affect the review process and decisions about other submissions.
Therefore, after the submission deadline, withdrawing your poem is possible,
but will result in a permanent prohibition from submitting to any publications published and edited by myself, Kirk Ramdath,
unless there is an urgent reason for the withdrawal.
Notice of Acceptance
Accepted submissions will be notified by March 15th, 2025.
Submissions that are not accepted for publication will no longer receive a direct notice of rejection.
Instead, once the the Date for Notice passes, submissions that have not been notified as accepted will expire.
Submission Status Page
March 15th, 2025 is the latest date that results will be available.
Every effort will be made to complete reviewing at an earlier time.
As soon as reviewing is completed and accepted submissions are notified,
the Submissions Status webpage will be updated.
Check the Submission Status page at any time to view the status of your submission.
Accepted submissions will be published online in the publications hosting each Shakespeare's Pen Contest, as described above. Publications will be added to the submitter's Wax Poetry and Art Artist Page. See more information about Artist Pages, below.
Accessible to All
This publication is available to the public for free.
All published work is accessible to anyone who has access to the internet.
This means that you will be able to share your work with as many people as possible.
Even for experienced artists, it is rare to have a published work that all family, friends, fans, colleagues, and truly, the entire world can enjoy.
Poetry World Cup Qualification
Every single-poem submission accepted and published on the Wax Poetry and Art Network qualifies for entry into the Poetry World Cup.
The most-read poems from eight different countries published on the Wax Poetry and Art Network during the calendar year will be chosen to represent their nations
during the Poetry World Cup that will happen the next year after publication, on January 15th.
Copyright
Copyright of the poem remains with the original artist.
First Publication
Upon acceptance, the poet grants the publisher, Kirk Ramdath, the right to the first publication of the poem,
as well as the right to republish the poem in Wax Poetry and Art anthologies and collections,
online and in print, without additional permission required.
Royalties
If the work is ever collected into a book or made available for sale in any print format, the artist will receive a minimum 20% royalty.
If the work is included in a printed collection with other artists (as is most likely), the 20% royalty is shared equally among all artists,
based on the number of submissions contributed.
If the work is ever made available for sale in a digital format, a 50% royalty will be given.
Royalties are paid out annually in January if a minimum of $10 CAD is accrued.
Artist Page, Artist Collection, and Royalty Advance
As of 2024, all published artists receive a Wax Poetry and Art Artist Page.
The Artist Page will house the artist's biography and the list of their publications across the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
Once the artist accumulates 12 publications on their Artist Page, and every 12 publications thereafter,
inclusive of all genres, an Artist Collection will be published in the Library.
The artist will be awarded a $50 CAD royalty advance that will be sent within 30 days following the publication of the collection.
This Artist Collection will be published in the Library alongside collections such as Comet and Poetry World.
Artist Collection Queue
The Artist Collection will be published at the next publication date from when their 12th publication is acquired.
For example, if the artist achieves 12 publications at the May 15th publication date, their Artist Collection will be published on September 15th.
However, if there is already an Artist Collection slated for publication, the artist will join the Artist Collection queue.
Only one Artist Collection will be published at a time to ensure that each artist receives the fullest spotlight possible.
Once an artist achieves 12 publications, they will be informed, after publication, when their Artist Collection will be published.
If multiple artists achieve 12 publications at the same date,
the artist with the earliest first publication on their artist page will go ahead of the others.
If still tied, the number of pageviews on their first publication will be used as a tie-breaker.
National and Other Collections
In addition to being added to their own artist page, new publications are also added to the
Countries page for their nation.
Once a country accumulates 24 publications, and every 24 publications thereafter, a National Collection will be published in the Library.
As well, collections based on specific themes may be assembled and published at any publication date.
There is no additional payment or royalty advance for inclusion in a National or other collection.
There will not be additional notifications if your work is included in a National or other collection that is published online.
You will be notified if your work appears in an online collection and is chosen to be published in a print version of the collection.
If multiple nations achieve 24 publications at the same date, a National Collection queue will form,
with the same considerations as Artist Collection queues, described above.
A country that joins the National Collection queue that has not published a National Collection previously may jump ahead of a country
that has already published a National Collection, at the editor's discretion.
Initial Payment: No
There is no initial payment upon publication.
Additional Rights Granted
The artist also grants the publisher the right to share the work on third party platforms such as Facebook and other social media,
specifically for the purpose of sharing the work and the artist with more people, and considering the evolving and experimental nature of the Internet.
Editor's Right to Edit Text
The editor reserves the right to make whatever changes are deemed necessary, at any time, to ensure that publication occurs.
Note from Editor
In practice, I perform as few edits as possible, hopefully none.
My main concern as an editor is whatever distracts the reader and thereby disrupts the pure enjoyment of reading the text.
Edits are performed as the work is being prepared for publication, and are usually small tweaks, if any.
After publication, the artist can request clarification on an edit, or make a case for the original version.
If the two sides are unable to reach agreement, the option remains to unpublish the work.
Style Guide
– Edit your work carefully.
– Verb tense should be consistent throughout the text.
– Use punctuation in a consistent way.
– When verb tense and punctuation are not consistent, the reader's enjoyment is disrupted.
Edits to Expect
– Whatever is deemed necessary to ensure publication.
– Oxford commas will be inserted.
– Generally for poetry, quoted text will be displayed in italics instead of using quotations. This does not apply to fiction.
– Generally for poetry, semicolons will be replaced by en dashes (–). This does not apply to fiction.
– Images are not edited. However, if an image is selected for a cover, it may be cropped to fit the webpage style.
Email Subject Header
Use the Contest Name as your email subject header.
No Attachments for Text
The entire submission must be copied and pasted or manually transcribed into the body of a single email and sent to the email address shown below.
Do not include any text of your submission in an attachment.
Submission Checklist
Submissions must include the following components.
1) Contest Name
2) Agreement Statement
"I agree with the guidelines for submissions to the Shakespeare's Pen Contests."
3) Poem
4) Biography
5) Postal Mailing Address / Address of Residence
– Legal Name:
– Street Number and Name:
– City:
– Province/State:
– Country:
– Postal Code:
– (Optional) Phone / WhatsApp:
Send your submission by email to info@waxpoetryart.com.
About the Editor
Kirk Ramdath is the publisher, editor, and designer of the Wax Poetry and Art Network of publications.
He has read and performed at poetry events in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and many other cities in Canada.
Kirk had the honour of opening the world-famous Peace Bridge in Calgary in 2012.
He has been a publisher since 2005.
He also organized many dozen poetry events, around the 2010s.
Particularly, open-mic poetry events with a featured artist.
Kirk's first book, Love in a Handful of Dust, was published by Frontenac House in 2011, and will be republished by Florencia Bay Books in 2025.
He has three other poetry books near completion.
In 2002, Kirk obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, with Distinction, and a Minor in Philosophy from the University of Calgary, in Canada.
Kirk was born in Trinidad and Tobago, moved to Canada at age 10 with his family, and now writes and publishes from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
Return to Wax Poetry and Art Submissions
Also New on the Wax Poetry and Art Network:
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Submissions page.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
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