Name and surname:	Sladjana Ray
	Poem for the 4th and 5th round (Final / Grand Final): (TRANSLATION INTO MONTENEGRIN + YOUR NATIVE / ENGLISH LANGUAGE )	HOLIDAYS ARE HARD WHEN YOU ARE AN IMMIGRANT Holidays are hard when you are an immigrant! Alone in foreign country, Always reminded of your accent, that you are not an American, that you don’t belong, that you need to go back where you came from. Holidays are hard when you are an immigrant! You live in the tiny studio, in the roughest parts of Brooklyn, because your bank account do not permit you to live where Americans don’t lock their doors and don’t have the metal bars on their windows, with their perfect, white, picket fences, nannies, and country club memberships. Holidays are hard when you’re an immigrant! All the streetlights and Christmas decorations everywhere you go don’t change the fact that you gave up your family Slavas, Quinceanera’s, and Hanukkahs to have a better life, because this Land of Dreams doesn’t take a day off! But is it a better life? All alone in one tiny studio in Brooklyn, reminded everyday that you are different, that you don’t belong, that you are an immigrant. Holidays are hard when you are an immigrant! What is the price of an American dream? Tarator by your kind; always outsider here, So, what do you do? You just get up! Step up! Shut up! Fight up! You just go to work, because holiday is just another day to survive in the “Land of free and home of the brave”.
	Something special about you!	I love to volunteer my time, One of the ways in which I love to give back to my community is through the work with college students at the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I am an alumina representative for the entire state of Georgia. Helping students reach their academic and personal goals is something that I truly enjoy doing. I am naturalized American, but my roots are Serbian. I am actively involved in our Serbian community here in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been part of our St. Peter and Paul Serbian Orthodox Church for the past 23 years. This year, I was chosen by our parish sisters to serve as President of Serbian Sisterhood Circle. This is one of the greatest honor to serve because this non-profit organizations was created in 1903 with a mission to respond to the great human suffering of their brethren living under foreign occupation. We help sick and people in need in our Serbian community, We organized various events and workshops to teach younger generations Serbian traditions and specially Serbian language. This year, in celebration of preserving the Serbian language and poetry, our perish published a beautiful poetry collection.
	What do you think is the main problem of peace in your country? Suggest solutions to us, and how to bring and preserve peace in your country with poetry?	Poetry and literature connect people from all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. The beauty of literature is that one can express feelings, thoughts, and ideas. It allows writer, or in this case a poet, to reflect on world around them and to express deepest feelings of love, passion, happiness, but also pain, agony, and despair. Today, America is facing one of the most challenging times in the history. Despite of constant efforts to bridge the gaps of inequalities, the majority of American people have a very negative opinions on oppressed groups, minorities, and immigrants. One way in which people can advocate for peace is through poetry. Writing pomes about oppression, advocating for minorities , or current issues in the world can all be seen through the eyes of empathy and compassion. Teaching people, specially young people, about empathy and compassion will allow them to better understand differences among people today. We as a collective, need to stop teaching kids to hate. I believe that all those terrible things that are happening in the world are the product of hate. Nobody is born to hate. Hate is something that you are taught how to do. Working with young people most of my life, allowed me to gain valuable input about their diverse cultures, ethnicities, religions, and they also taught me about love and importance of traditions. Through the stories of my students, I got to see their struggles and help them overcome anything. Being an immigrant is something that I can connect with my students. 90% of my students that I teach are immigrants. The poem I wrote for this round was for my students and myself, too. It was for all the immigrants that had to leave their homes and come to different country for a better life. Many came because they wanted peace. Many lived in horrific conditions with terrible governments. Many are still adjusting to this new way of life in America. Although, it is safe it is not always equal or supporting living in America. In my school, we have Poetry Club that gives our students a safe place to express their thoughts and feelings and speak about oppressive issues. They can write about governments, about race, inequalities in immigration laws, rights for certain groups..etc. The biggest reward for me is to hear their beautiful poems. Words are the most powerful weapon that one can use to change the world. I hope my students will change the world and bring peace, one poem at the time.
	List of the published books:	Miili Dueli, International Poetry Collection (2014) Sa Verom u Hrista- Zbornik Poezije, poetry collection (2023)
	Do you expect to win the contest?	YES

You can watch and vote the video posted on Mili Dueli’s official Facebook page:

Mili Dueli 2023 – Fifth Round (Grand final)

Objava Slađana Ray – Teško je biti emigrant kad dođu praznici (Mili Dueli 2023 – Grand Final) pojavila se prvi puta na Mili Dueli.

The contest is traditionally composed of 5 elimination rounds. In each round, the number of authors decreases, and in the last, Fifth round, the winner is decided by a voting system based on the Eurovision Song Contest scoring system. The main responsible person of the contest is Nermin Delić, the idea creator and organizer of the contest. For 8 years in a row, Mili Dueli have been gathering authors and spreading the influence of poetry in everyday life.

Nermin Delić

Briefly about the First Round: The selection of all received applications (739) was performed by Nermin Delić. The organizer selected 476 authors for presentation in the Second Round.

Briefly about the Second Round: After the selection in the First Round by the organizer of the contest, Nermin Delić, 476 authors were selected and presented in the Second Round. In the Second Round, the authors are classified in 12 duels, according to the countries they come from. Due to the number of participants, Bosnia and Herzegovina had 2 duels (DUEL 1, DUEL 2), and Serbia 3 (DUEL 3, DUEL 4, DUEL 5). Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria had one duel each (DUEL 6, DUEL 7, DUEL 8, DUEL 9). Due to the small number of participants, authors from Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Romania and Slovenia were presented in one duel (DUEL 10). Poets with Balkan roots, but with current residence outside the Balkans, are grouped together in one duel (DUEL 11). In the end, all authors coming from non-Balkan countries are grouped into one duel (DUEL 12).

The beginning of the presentation of the duel on the official Facebook profile of Mili Dueli was on July 12, 2020. Duels are presented in order, every 2-3 or 4 days according to the scope of the duel. For the first 15 days from the presentation of the duel, the followers of Mili Dueli were able to vote in the comments by entering the author’s number below the picture where her/his poem is presented. In addition to the readers, the members of the jury, composed of 12 renowned and important for Mili Duel artists from the Balkans, also voted. They selected 90% of the authors to pass to the Third Round. The other 10% is intended for the votes of the readers, for those who were not selected by the jury, and who have the great support of their friends and companions Mili Dueli.

Briefly about the Third Round: In the third round, the selection of the best authors continued and only the TOP 100 best authors had the opportunity to continue.

Briefly about the Fourth Round: The fourth round is brought by the TOP 50 best authors who pass to the final, fifth round. It is composed of a total of 16 duels.

You can see more about the Fourth Round (how it is voted, how it is organized) here:

Mili Dueli 2020: Organization Of The Fourth Round

FOURTH ROUND (SEMI-FINALS)

RESULTS

First of all, an important announcement … In the fourth round, we were looking for the 50 best authors according to the procedure established by the organization of the competition. Looking at the results, as the Organizer, I realized that in certain duels, the authors were much more dominant, and that surely many more authors deserved to pass, at least according to the presentation in the semifinals. For that purpose, I decided that the number of authors who go directly further should be 36, and that a total of 34 authors should fight for the remaining 14 places. All those authors who did not go directly further will equally send the poem for the finals, but only 14 of them will be presented, based on the quality of the submitted poem and the accompanying video material that traditionally adorns our Finals. More about everything, certainly below …

DUEL 16 –  NORTH AMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA

WHAT’S NEXT? (PREPARATION FOR THE FINALS)

DARK BLUE. Authors who entered the TOP 50 directly! These authors are officially the finalists of this season, therefore, participants in the last round of Mili DuelI 2020/21. From this moment on, they need to contact their mentors and start preparing the poem for the Finals. All details related to the preparation and sending of the poem for the Finals will be received in a private message in the inbox. Please be patient!

LIGHT BLUE. – Authors who has chance to participate in the finals, the last round of Mili Duels 2020/21. These are authors who did not go directly to the final round, but due to the fantastic performance in the semifinals, the Organizer decided to give a new opportunity to promote their poetry. There are a total of 34 of them in such a situation, and 14 of them will be participants in the Finals. The decision will be made by the Organizer based on their application for the Finals. From this point on, they can also contact their mentors and start preparing a poem for the Finals.

TOP 100 – Authors who remained in the TOP 100 and did not make it to the Mili Dueli 2020 Finals. Their contribution to the spread of the project and poetry will be rewarded by receiving electronic recognition for their participation as they represented their countries in a bright light (TOP 100 from 739 registered !!!), and will accordingly receive recognition for the intercultural dialogue of the Balkan countries and the countries of the world in which they participated.

All the presented poems will be represented in a electronic collection which, apparently, will have its own printed edition (summer, 2021), when MILI DUELI BALKAN TOUR awaits us. More on that soon!

Also, all authors who are 2000 or younger will be presented at the MILI DUEL JUNIOR ONLINE POETRY CONTEST which will start a few days after the end of the eighth season of Mili Duels 2020 – Online Balkan Poetry Contest!

JURY COMMENTS

Organizer: NERMIN DELIĆ

Dear friends,

First of all, thank you for showing the greatest sense of loyalty to the whole project this season. The Corona-year prolonged the contest itself, and at the same time some of my private achievements happened (I finished university and started working), so the time spent on the project was reduced to a certain extent. Either way, our play through poetry continued, and so in these wonderful summer days we had the opportunity to read the 100 most representative authors we had so carefully selected.

In this, the fourth and at the same time penultimate round, we had the opportunity to enjoy the poetry of all Balkan countries, but also many countries around the world. Somewhere it turned out to be good that there was longer voting time than in previous seasons. Looking at the number of views of all the semi-final poems, with 328,492 views on Facebook, my mission was already fulfilled. Looking at the countries that read us, I could not stop, if I started to list … Almost 330,000 times we entered the everyday life of people on social media with poetry… I noticed at the beginning that there were two camps among the authors; one who enthusiastically welcomed the publication of their poem and those who did not promote their poetry even to their friends. The former shared the same with their friends, because for the first time, somewhere in our region, people can vote for poetry; for the first time it was important to point out that you have passed the selection of 739 authors and you are one step closer to the end, exclusively with your poetry. Because this was not an invitation to like the conquest of handbags, irons, shelves, etc., this was an invitation to the world of poetry in which each of these 100 great authors lives!. But probably everyone had their reasons for being one and not the other, and from that point of view it certainly can’t be a complaint. I rewarded some of the poems, even though they had poor readability, because they are masterful in themselves!

Just led by a mass of people who wrote me every day who they were voting for, shared your poems so beautifully and decorated their Facebook walls, I didn’t want to conflict my opinion with the opinion of the masses. But points always say it all. So in this case. I started to comment and went in order, all in order to write as good and clear comments as possible, WHY such points. But then I finally realized that in most cases the same mistake, the same comment, was written only in different words.

Therefore, I decided to point out in general the following …

When submitting a poem, to any contest, anywhere, even where you are already sure that the poem will be published, awarded, or generally given some recognition, please take note of the following:

1. LITERACY. There were so many mistakes that turned me away from some nice emotions I felt while reading your poems. If you’re a writer, that doesn’t mean you have to be computer-wise and orthographically perfect, but if you’re sending a poem somewhere, to someone, let it be viewed with other eyes as well; maybe someone who knows maybe less than you will know something more about certain things. It is this item that is crucial in depriving the spirit of amateurism that a writer can carry within himself. Four-dot in poems, spaces several times, unnecessary punctuation marks in the wrong places; all of which violates the RHYTHM and AESTHETIC VALUES and, ultimately, the GENERAL IMPRESSION of the poem. If you make me take a break in the wrong place with a comma, that thread that runs the poem will break, and I will remain confused. I have to admit that these mistakes were greatly reduced, as a team of mentors worked with the authors, but there were authors who submitted their poems without a mentor and where such mistakes were noticed.
2. WORK WITH A MENTOR. This item may be crucial, as it involves collaboration on the selection and / or correction of a semi-final poem. It’s not just a conversation about a poem, it’s a conversation of two cultures, often two peoples, and you were representatives of your own. The basis of any peace is acquaintance, cooperation and compromise.
   We did not take it as evil if an author, in the words of his mentor, still insisted on being “according to him”, but it is a completely wrong form not to respect the form of the contest that requires cooperation, therefore, not to contact his mentor at all, not to greet him.
   My impression is certainly complemented by the opinion of my colleagues, members of the jury, and your mentors, and in this regard we are looking for a person who will be a part of us in the next season of the contest.
3. OPINION OF READERS / YOUR FRIENDS. We should never primarily be guided by the number of likes and reviews that one author has achieved on the social network, because then the competition part would mean a struggle for numbers, and not for the quality of the poem. However, I am of the opinion that on this occasion as well, through the number of votes cast, you showed two things; first – how much you actually care about going through; the second – how much support you can actually collect for your poetry. I note that for the first time it is a vote for poetry, where free votes decide who will be the winner. In this regard, I rewarded all the authors who heartily presented their poem.
4. POETIC VALUE OF THE TEXT. Many of the texts in the verse that are sent are often not clarified as poetry, so it was necessary to point out to the authors what is poetic and what is not in their poems. Judging subjectively, the original metaphors and comparisons are something I admired the most, because they impress the most. The most common example I give to everyone is this: if it was written IT WAS COLD it has less poetic value than IT WAS ICE, where in the same sense, a metaphor is introduced. If someone writes IT WAS WHITE LIKE SNOW, which is expected, clichéd and outdated, it will certainly be less impressive than IT WAS WHITE LIKE A NEEDLE HOUSE.
   When it comes to rhyming poems, rhymes should not be surpassed and expected. Here, too, the use of new poetic words and their skillfully found rhymes was appreciated. Of course, no one should invent hot water, but every step out of everyday life was considered a success.
5. AESTHETIC VALUE OF THE TEXT. Applications submitted for the semifinals were to be complete. Any answer to the questions related to the biography and the general impression of the author about the contest was evaluated. Also, the poem itself was supposed to be completely computer-correct. It is extremely unnecessary to point out grammatical / spelling mistakes to someone in this round of the competition, because every such mistake is a sign of the author’s lack of dedication to the text and work with a mentor.
6. GENERAL IMPRESSION. The authors have sent poems in the previous three rounds, too. It is also, a significant factor that influenced the distribution of my points.

Opinions from other Jury members:

Their mentor, Anđela Turukalo said:

“Anne Thrope… This is one very vivid poem. It has some strong energy and I like Anne’s unique expression. I do believe that the ‘shape’ of the poem (or it’s form) could be more precise and more arranged, but nevertheless- I find this very well done.

Thiago Resende Soares… I appreciate the way how the three ideas are connected and intertwined. Yet, since the “Time” and “Death” are mentioned less times than “Love”, I do feel like the “Love” is too repetitive (the word itself). Also, I feel like there’s too much of explanations and not enough of depth in the expression. Yet, the poem brings a message clearly. So, I’m satisfied with this.”

Lela Zjajo from Germany said this: “There is and there is no expected poetry. I wish I had stayed thrilled but a lot is missing from these poems that would get my attention or a return to re-reading. I read and realized that these two poems left no trace in my soul. I am an irrevocable supporter of emotion and readable poetry, clarity, even if it was written in the simplest terms. The soul is missing here, the fluttering poetics is missing. Brutal everyday life leaves traces in these written verses. I’m sorry for my rudeness maybe, but the Finals need something much stronger, more meaningful, more energetic …”

You can read poems by American authors here:

Mili Dueli 2020/21: Poezija američkih autora (Polufinale)

MILI DUELI 

Made in Bosnia and Herzegovina
by Nermin Delić

Europe / Balkan Peninsula
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Central Bosnia Canton
Jajce Town 70202

Sva prava zadržana. // All rights reserved.

Objava MILI DUELI 2020/21: Semi-final results – DUEL 16 – South America and North America pojavila se prvi puta na Mili Dueli.