Category: cultchallenge2024

Cult of the Spiny Hog Challenges for 2024

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Cult Challenge: March 2024: “Postcards From The Hedge: Poems for Gustav Klimt”

Gustav Klimt’s Water Serpents II (1907)

I am pleased to say, that in the end we decided that the quality of the poetry meant that it was a wee bit daft not to release the work as a high quality anthology.

The book will contain a variety of Klimt’s artwork, along with poetry from:

      1. Cassia Stevens
      2. Catherine Heighway
      3. Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
      4. Christine Macfarlane
      5. Dawn Gorman
      6. Eileen Carney Hulme
      7. Felice Hardy
      8. Greta Ross
      9. Jackie Truman
      10. Julie De Brito
      11. Katrina Moinet
      12. Kerry Darbishire
      13. Liz Kendall
      14. Marion Ashton
      15. Mick Yates
      16. Nigel Kent
      17. Oz Hardwick
      18. Patricia M Osborne
      19. Phil Santus
      20. Rebecca Royall
      21. Roger Waldron
      22. Saskia Ashby
      23. Wendy Goulstone

This month’s Challenge unashamedly repeats the one from last December, as I have to say that I was secretly chuffed with how it all turned out, and so again, here we will be producing a nice wee collection of poems, in the form of a set of Postcards and an eBook edition of the shortlist, all of which will come under our ‘Postcards From The Hedge’ banner.

This time we are using the art of Gustav Klimt as a basis, as we create (drum-roll) ‘Poems for Gustav Klimt’.

I know, I don’t know how I come up with these titles.

There are to be two stages to the prize for this Challenge:

      • The Shortlisted Poems will be included in a wee eBook, and
      • A selection of ‘Winning’ poems will be featured in a set of postcards which will appear, hopefully, by June 2024.

To be clear:

    1. Write a Poem that reacts to some aspect of the work of Gustav Klimt
    2. The Winning poets will see their work featured in  set of postcards to be ‘published’ in 2024
    3. There will additionally be an eBook edition featuring the Shortlisted poems

Rules:

    1. There are no length constraints
    2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
    3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 31st of March 2024

Here are a selection of Klimt’s artworks that may be included in the eBook / set of postcards:

 

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Cult Challenge: February 2024: “Exhibition Cards For Imaginary Paintings”

I am pleased to be able to announce that the Shortlisted Poets for this Challenge, are:

    1. Fiona Halliday
    2. Philippa Ramsden
    3. Amanda Jane Hill
    4. Caroline Gill
    5. Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
    6. Phil Santus
    7. Patricia M Osborne
    8. Tina MacNaughton
    9. Liz Kendall
    10. Miriam Otto
    11. Wendy Goulstone

After some pondering, and a vote among the Shortlisted poets, we decided that rather than publishing Five of the Poems on Exhibition Cards, and making the Shortlist available as an eBook, instead it would be better to give all of the eleven poems a proper release.

I’m pleased to say then that our 8th Little Black Book will be published soon as ‘Exhibition Cards for Imaginary Paintings’, which will be a good addition to the series, I  think.

Well, life would be boring if it was predictable.

Congratulations to everybody that was included, there were a crazy number of really good poems, and it didn’t exactly make my life easy.

This month’s Challenge is  again something a little different, as it is an opportunity to create something from pure imagination.

The aim is to imagine that you have walked into a gallery, stood in front of a blank wall and examined a painting that wasn’t there.

Imagining what the painting should have been, you will write a short poem in the form of an exhibition card, to explain it to the less enlightened.

i.e. One that would be stuck to the wall next to the painting in a gallery, if only somebody had thought to paint the picture, and then display it in a gallery.

If you see what I mean.

The poem then has a firm format:

Line One: Artist Name – This is your name – in the format:

Mark Davidson (b. 2003)

(It is OK to lie about your age)

Line Two: Title of the Imaginary Artwork – in the format:

Stolen Guitar, Missing a G String

Line Three:  Style of Artwork – in the format:

Acrylic on Canvas

Line Four: Dimensions  – in the format:

60cm x 45cm

Lines 5: Up to Eight lines of text – in the format:

Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled
Here we have a number of lines to be filled

Other than the format, there are no rules. You can use every aspect as part of the poem or to add to your description of the imaginary painting.

The Shortlisted  Exhibition Card Poems will be compiled and reproduced in an eBook Edition to be released during 2024.

Additionally, 5 of the poems will be beautifully produced as a set of Printed Exhibition cards.

To be clear:

    1. Write a Poem that describes a painting that never was, in the form of an Exhibition Card
    2. The Winning poets will see their work featured in  set of Exhibition Cards to be published in 2024
    3. There will additionally be an eBook edition featuring the Shortlisted poems

Rules:

    1. There are no length constraints, but you must follow the format described above
    2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
    3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 29th of February 2024

 

 

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Cult Challenge: January 2024: “Poems for Wonderland”

And THE WINNERS ARE:

I’m pleased to be able to announce that the winning poets, who will see their poem in this sumptuous book, are:

      1. Philippa Hatton-Lepine
      2. Rhiannon Lewis
      3. Margaret Royall
      4. Phil Santus
      5. Jennifer Schneider
      6. Kate Young
      7. Greta Ross
      8. Gwen Sayers
      9. Beverly Frydman
      10. David Punter
      11. Dawn Gorman
      12. Russel E. Willis
      13. Tina MacNaughton
      14. Kerry Darbishire
      15. Patricia M Osborne
      16. Chris Hemingway
      17. Isabel Miles
      18. Cassia Stevens
      19. Sharron Green
      20. Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
      21. Stephen Bone
      22. Felice Hardy
      23. Oz Hardwick
      24. Liz Kendall
      25. Mandy Willis
      26. Christine Tokunaga

The Anthology will be published in all of it’s full colour poshness, in July 2024.

Congratulations to all that were included and many thanks to everybody that wrote a poem for this.

There have been so many versions and interpretations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland over the years, but the original illustrations created by Sir John Tenniel have always felt definitive to me.

What I have always loved about the books is the surreal sense of, well, Wonder they created in me when I read them as a kid, and I couldn’t think of anything better this month as the basis for a challenge.

So this month (and as we are late launching this – you have until the end of February to submit your entry / entries) I would like you to write a poem that captures the spirit of Alice in Wonderland. Your work can include characters from the original stories, or you can create your own wonderfully weird characters or situations too.

The poem can be of any length or style, and the aim is to publish a rather gorgeous book in July that not only contains some of the Tenniel illustrations, but also a selection of poems influenced by them and by Lewis Carroll.

Here are some of the images that may appear in the wee book:

To be clear:

    1. Write a Poem in the spirit of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
    2. The poem can be of any type or style and should reflect his approach, characters and imagination, but should be entirely your own

Rules:

    1. There are no length constraints
    2. You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
    3. Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 29th February 2024

The best poems/responses will be included in a wee book to be published in July 2024