Spectator competition: ‘Shall I compare thee to a camembert?’ — new ways with Sonnet 18 (plus acrostic poets)

The challenge to put a fresh spin on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 was the most popular competition for ages. The brief was to replace ‘summer’s day’ with a trisyllable of your choice. A competitor emailed to ask if I’d meant a single trisyllabic word or a three-syllable phrase. I meant the former but perhaps that wasn’t clear so I allowed both. Objects of comparison ranged from ocelot to shaggy dog, from Shakespeare play to Theresa May. It was a dazzling performance pretty much all round. I’ve squeezed in seven winners, who take £20 each, but there could have been so many more — Ray Kelley, Philip Roe, Douglas G. Brown, Rob Stuart, Frank McDonald and Noel Petty, to mention just a few. Hugh King’s cockapoo scoops £30.

Hugh King Shall I compare thee to a cockapoo? Thou art less tousled, less importunate. Thou dost not slaver when thy food is due, Nor lick thy parts, nor shameless seek a mate, Shaming thy master, in some publick place.