Love poem writing contest

I have entered every quiz, crossword puzzle, prize draw in fact you name it and I have probably entered it at some point, the only thing I have ever won though is a large Easter egg in a prize draw about 5 years ago, the odd thing is, I don’t even like chocolate so I am unsure why I entered it. I was flicking through the pages of a magazine one Saturday morning and I noticed a competition for a love poem writing contest. I felt that I must enter it. I had written short poems (kurze Gedichte) and stories in the past for competitions and I was rather good at creative writing at school, so felt that this challenge should not pose a problem.

The poem had to be no more than 800 words and the topic had to be centred on love. So I put pen to paper, the start of the poem was no problem, I just talked about a man and a woman who had come to meet by chance on holiday in Greece, both were from different nationalities and both spoke different languages, they managed to overcome there language barrier by the great love they felt for each other. I had an ending to the poem but there was no middle, and I only had 400 words left. It took a few days but in the end I got there. I put my poem in an envelope and sent it off, just as I had done with many competitions before. I hoped it would win, but after a week I had heard nothing and I put it to the back of my mind.

It was about six weeks later and I got a letter through the post, it said that there had been an overwhelming response to the competition, but after a hard decision my poem had been placed in the final three of this competition. They wanted me to join them in London the very next weekend, where they would pay for my accommodation, I would be wined and dined and also interviewed. They had to know whether I was up to talking to the press if I was to be the winner and the trip to London would be the deciding factor.

I travelled won to London on the Saturday and was met by a taxi who took me to the Hilton Hotel. A bell boy took me to my room, on the bed was a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates, together with a letter which explained about the meal that afternoon, the interview would take place over dinner, so it wouldn’t be formal. I was pleased I felt much more relaxed about this.

I went down to dinner and was met by two of the judges in the competition, and was seated next to the other 2 candidates, who were both in the same position as me. I was very nervous but decided to just be myself and if they didn’t like me then I had tried my very best.

I went to bed that night not knowing the outcome of the meal, I had answered all there questions about love poems (Liebesgedichte) and short poems and just hoped that it had paid off. The next morning we all met in the lobby for the outcome of last nights meal. We were all given an envelope and one of them had tickets for a two week holiday in Florida, plus spending money and the other two envelopes had book vouchers in. We were all told to open them. Fortunately I was the winner.