HubPages Celebrates Poetry, Creative Writing, Photography: HubPatron of the Arts Contest

HubPages is a great place to write - almost anyone who writes here will tell you that. Some will tell you at great length. Many create "Anniversary Hubs" to celebrate their time on HubPages. These hubs are usually full of personal insights, and helpful tips for those wishing to improve their experience here on HubPages.

Some anniversary hubs are written to encourage and teach - "Yes, we can earn money on HubPages - here's how I did it." "Yes, you can improve your author score. Here's my method..." "Yes, you, too, can learn SEO. Try what I've learned..." "Yes, you can improve your writing..." The list goes on and on - and thanks goodness for each of those hubs and the authors who created them. I have learned something from every one I have read.

But what about those creative souls who labor into the night pursuing a different muse - the poets, prose writers, and photographers who plod and soar, cudgel their brains, wear out their keyboards, and develop "shutter finger" for the sheer love of it all?

I, for one, am taking a leaf from the playbook of Mark Ewbie, noted HubPages writer and humorist. I am dedicating my "Not-Really-An-Anniversary Hub" to sharing about a recent contest, as well as indulging in, to quote the master, "a little shameless promotion."

In November, HubPages encouraged poets, prose writers, and photographers to let loose their creativity in the first HubPages Patron of the Arts Writing Contest.

The rules were simple - every entry must contain a total of 500 words of text. In the photography hubs, the 500 words would be an explanation of the pictures; and in the poetry hubs, the poem(s) plus explanation(s) had to comprise 500 words.

The response was overwhelming - a total of 1710 works. For twenty-two halcyon days, almost every scribe and shutter-bug on HubPages labored long and mightily. The outpouring of talent was amazing in its breadth and scope.

A panel of judges for each category, well-known and respected members of our writing community, were tasked with choosing the three entries in each of the three categories: Poetry, Creative Writing, Photography.

Adjudicating Panel: Drax, epigramman, Nellieanna, rebekahElle, saddlerider1, and HubPages Staff Representative Camille Harris

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but it could make finding rhymes a lot harder. What if roses were called Sweet Smelly-thorns? That would certainly be descriptive of the prickly, highly scented flower, but hardly flattering. Besides, we poets are sensitive to such peculiarities of the language. Finding exactly the right words can be tricky enough without the burden of unkind nomenclature. After all, when was the last time you read an ode to an orange?

Poets abound on HubPages. Poets of every style and bent, from lyricists and masters of the art of Haiku, to scribes of blank verse, nonsense poems, pantoum, rhyming couplets, jintishi, ruba'i, sestina, and vilanelle. There are so many wonderful poems to read on HubPages - here are three from among the best:

Third Place

An accomplished artist - her avatar (profile icon) is from one of her pen & ink sketches - singer, songwriter, and poet, Elle is working on her first novel, an adventure in the fantasy genre.

The idea for Elle's poem, loosely based on Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," was born from the notion of marrying her love of music with her love of words, in a series of musings and photos chronicling the passing of the seasons.

Second Place

I am driven, perhaps by ocean tides to find my place beyond one’s ability to rise above the loss of loved ones, beyond knowing what it is to be an honest, direct man, beyond the comprehension of fools; guided by wisdom and observations made, of those currents that reach out to that place where all horizons meet and people know instinctively, how to understand others, uniquely. I hope you enjoy my work….

First Place

Bachelor of Science in Technical Communications, published poet and writer.

Amateur musician, salsa, blues, pop, jazz. Instrument: Trombone.

Bicycle commuter and fundraising bicyclist for National Multiple Sclerosis Society and American Diabetes Association events.

Devoted husband and father of 3.

Adjudicating Panel: Alastar Packer, glassvisage, lmmartin, Wayne Brown and HubPages Staff Representative Pia Chatterjee

To say there are many writers on HubPages is the kind of understatement our UK friends appreciate. We have as many writers here as Heinz has pickles or Carter has Liver Pills. We have writers who write on almost every topic under the sun, while others write almost exclusively on niche topics.

One of the things we all have in common though, under all the SEO and long-tailed keywords, the technique and the passion, is that we all need to write. Whether we write for money or the sheer joy of stringing words together, or a bit of both, writers must write every bit as much as "fish gotta swim, and birds gotta fly..." It's what we do - it's who we are.

Here are three of the best pieces of creative writing published during the November contest:

Third Place

I have always enjoyed writing: I have a degree in journalism from the University of Colorado, but I chose an entrepreneurial life instead. I will write a bit about life as a restaurateur, food, and recipes. Not too much though; after all, writing is my escape. I wouldn’t want to spend too much time "talking shop."

Second Place

"Since you have such an active imagination Billy, why not put it to good use and write a story for the class?"

With that, Mrs. Greene, my fourth grade teacher, set in motion a life-long love of writing and in particular, the short story.

My first love is the old west, but I occasionally step out of character, and write something a little more contemporary. I hope you enjoy my scribblings.

First Place

I made it my business to help others succeed. I don't teach any longer, but I do want to continue to share and help others find success.

I love to write. There is nothing like a cup of coffee and and letting my imagination pour out into written words.

Adjudicating Panel: stephhicks68, Marye Audet, leahlefler, sofs, SilverGenes, and HubPages Staff Representative Simone Smith

In Granny's day, everyone had a shoe-box or two full of black and white snaps from Uncle Somebody's vacation to Somewhere. In my parents' day, it became a slide show of "Our Last Trip / Vacation."

Sometimes the photos were great, but most of the time they weren't - cousins out of focus, aunties too small to see without a magnifier, uncles squinting into the sun so you could barely make out who they were, rows of relatives with no heads or no feet, and the under/over exposed shot of who-knows-what - the list goes on.

In our digital age, almost anyone can get a good shot. Not everyone can get a great shot, though. There are many fine photographers on HubPages, and we are blessed they share their vision and expertise in their articles. Here are three excellent photo-hubs from three of our talented photographers:

Third Place

How do I introduce myself? I have been touched by Goodness and Love in such a manner that I know that I have been touched by God.

I spend every day trying to enjoy the glory and beauty of life.

Life is too beautiful to be spent in any other way than being happy....

Second Place

My writing is not always helpful. It is not always correct or well thought out or inspirational or useful or even very entertaining. Terrible sales pitch, I know.

Writing, for me, is a necessity. Something I have to do. Not because I always enjoy it or even that I consider myself particularly remarkable at it. I do it because if I don’t I am lost.

Writing is therapy.

It is how I muck through my thoughts and sift through the mess. Writing is conflict. Painful, wonderful, necessary conflict.

First Place

Sarah is a witty girl endowed with dry humor and a taste for the unusual. She indulges in the art of motherhood, wifedom, painting, writing, tasting fine dark chocolates, baking, reading, a good cup of coffee, and photography.

She is a natural redhead, which catapults her into a category occupied by 1% of the world's population. She is madly in love, and thank goodness it's to the man she married, and they have three astounding children.

...and for all who just can't get enough of creativity at its very best...

The winners of the Daily Draws:

blairtracy for Love Me For Who I Am
AryanKumarSingh for Moon Fishing
shea duane for Girls Choosing Their Boyfriends
Happyboomernurse for Grandpa's Call for Help Lands on Deaf Ears
Kathryn Vercillo for Dear Blanket That Must Be Frogged
Randy Godwin for A Night In Taylor's Dread
FloraBreenRobinson for Sherlock Holmes: An Acrostic Poem
Ercolano for Underage Spanish Dwarf - a true, 'short' story
Melovy for Blood and Water - A Short Story
Shadesbreath for Sunrise Epiphany
Happyboomernurse for Something Smells Rotten on King Street
oceansnsunsets for Garden Designs that I Like and Want to Share
Ania L for The Power Of Destiny - Short Story
Jerilee Wei for Types of Poem Forms - The French Pastourelle Poem
snakeslane for Diving in the Canyon
Sarah Darling Road to Photography
sankari.nayagam for Self-realization - A poem
Stephanie Henkel for Manatees at Blue Spring State Park Florida
shazwellyn for Fortune Telling Stories, A Short Story About A Crystal Ball
sofs for Insect photography - Insect macro photography
Mrs. Menagerie for How to Use Your Digital Photos to Simplify the Holidays: A Step-by-Step Guide

Please visit Simone Smith's post in the HubPages Blog for a list of Honorable Mentions - some of our favorite HubPages authors whose entries are judges' picks for excellence.

A Hat Tip to Some Amazing Poets

When I first joined HubPages, I thought those hardy souls who signed up for a "Write 30 Hubs in 30 Days" challenge had to be at least half mad. Since then, I have taken part in three 30 Day challenges, and they were great - crazy, but great. I now have another challenge - to try and read all the contest hubs I missed out on reading because I was so busy writing - anyone care to join me?

© 2011, Text by Elle Fredine, except where noted.