Opc2024a

This is an anthology OPC2024A of poems from The Black Eyes, Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) 2024 Open Poetry Competition. The total entry for the 2024 competition was 713 poems, with all entries being considered anonymously, throughout the process. Longlisting was undertaken by Josephine Lay (Former Dir. Of Ops for the GPS & lead editor for Black Eyes Publishing) with assistance from Jason Conway (Current Dir. Of Ops for the GPS). The Longlist consisted of 69 poems. All longlisted poems were eligible for this anthology. However, several eligible poems, were withdrawn, once the results had been announced, to be either submitted elsewhere, or re-worked. The Longlist was judged by Helen Ivory (her judges report is included in this anthology) Helen produced a Shortlist of 10 poems, before settling on the final results. The GPS Friendship Prize was judged by Josephine, from the 55 poems submitted to The Black Eyes, Gloucestershire Poetry Society (GPS) 2023 Open Poetry Competition, by GPS Friendship Members. Josephine's judges report is included in this anthology, together with the poems included in the results.