The Certamen poeticum Hoeufftianum and the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902)

The Certamen poeticum Hoeufftianum, annually organized by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences from 1845 to 1978, was undoubtedly the most important Latin poetry contest of the nineteenth and twentieth century.1 A few rules and regulations were stipulated in the programma certaminis.2 The entries, which had to be of a minimum of fifty verses, were expected, for instance, not to have been issued elsewhere and to have been posted to the Academy in Amsterdam accompanied by a sealed envelope holding the poet’s name. The choice of poetic content and form was practically free – only translations and carmina argumenti privati were not allowed. Each year the Academy appointed from its own body a commission of three judges. The best poems received a gold medal and in-house publication. Other, less accomplished but still gratifying compositions were printed after the winning opus.3