Youth Poetry Competition 2016
Call Out + Guidelines
Twitter and Instagram: @SpeakOutLoudSA || Facebook :
www.speakoutoud.co.za/speakoutloudsa
Calling all youth poets from the City of Tshwane
Here is your chance to let your voice be heard!
Entry method:
Online: www.speakoutloud.co.za
Contact Person:
Ishmael Sibiya
060 370 3649
[email protected]
Contents
About the competition.................................................................................................................................. 2
Who can enter (Eligibility)............................................................................................................................. 2
Prizes ............................................................................................................................................................. 2
How will the competition run? ..................................................................................................................... 2
Submissions............................................................................................................................................... 2
Main Theme .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Other eligible themes............................................................................................................................ 2
Events Schedule ........................................................................................................................................ 3
How to enter ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Rules and Guidelines ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Tips and Advice ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Structure of events ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Assessment Criteria ...................................................................................................................................... 5
About the competition
Tshwane Speak Out Loud is a spoken word/poetry competition for youth aged 16 to 30 who live, school
or work in the City of Tshwane. The competition provides youth with the platform to speak out about
social issues that not only affect them, but their communities too using spoken word poetry.
Poets are encouraged to submit and perform new or existing original poems addressing social issues
under the stipulated themes or other societal issues that matter to them.
This year’s main theme is “Anti-drug and substance abuse”.
Who can enter (Eligibility)
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Youths between the ages of 16 and 30.
Youths schooling in the City of Tshwane (High School, University etc.).
Youths working within the City of Tshwane.
Youths living in the City of Tshwane.
Prizes
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1st place Prize: R30 000 cash.
2nd place Prize: R15 000 cash.
3rd place prize: R5 000 cash .
How will the competition run?
Submissions
Main Theme
This year’s main theme is “Anti-Drug and Substance abuse”. Although not compulsory, we encourage
you to at least have one poem that focuses on this theme.
Other eligible themes
Poets are required to submit online, 3 new or existing original poems that focus on the following
suggested social themes:
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Youth
Home / Homelessness
Community
Environment / environmental
Justice
Education formal / informal
Teenage Pregnancy
Pan Africanism
Food / Hunger
Homophobia
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Heritage
Social Movements / Resistance
Xenophobia
HIV/AIDS
Family
Love
Rural / Urban Life
Hope / Praise
Abuse
Other societal issues that
matter to you
Note that you don’t have to strictly perform the poems that you submit. The submission phase is just to
ensure that you have the minimum amount of poems to perform throughout the competition.
Events Schedule
The second phase of the competition is the Knockout rounds. All poets will be required to select one of
the Knockout events to participate in upon registering. There will be up to 30 Slots available for each of
the knockout events. The knockouts consist of two elimination rounds (see structure of events).
Event
Date
Time
Knockouts 1
FRI 24th June
2016
15:00 –
19:00
Knockouts 2
SAT 25th June
2016
12:00 –
17:00
Knockouts 3
WED 29th
June 2016
15:00 –
19:00
Knockouts 4
THUR 30th
June 2016
15:00 –
19:00
Knockouts 5
Knockouts 6
Semi-Finals
Grand Finale
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
Entry
closing date
23th June
2016 or
when the 30
slots fill up
24th June
2016 or
when the 30
slots fill up
28th June
2016 or
when the 30
slots fill up
29th June
2016 or
when the 30
slots fill up
TBA
TBA
N/A
N/A
All events will be taking place at the following venue:
Venue: Es’kia Mphahlele Library Hall, Sammy Marks square, Tshwane.
Address: 347 Madiba Str. (formerly Vermeulen Str.), Pretoria, 0002.
Please note: additional dates will be announced soon for knockout events 5 and 6, as well as for the
semi-finals and grand finale.
How to enter
Enter the competition online by visiting www.speakoutloud.co.za.
Should you have any questions or encounter any problems regarding registering for the competition,
feel free to send an email to [email protected].
Closing date: day before the specific knockout date or when slots for that specific knockouts
have been filled, whichever comes first. See above schedule.
Rules and Guidelines
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Poems must be original and the poets own work.
Poems must address societal issues that matter to you (see suggested themes for guidelines).
Poets must have at least 3 poems to perform throughout the competition.
Each poem must be no more than 3 minutes in length when performed. The poets will have a
10 second grace period, after which scores will be penalized, 2 points for each 10 seconds
beyond, starting at 3 minutes 11 seconds (e.g. up to 3:10 – no penalty; 3:11 to 3:20 ­ 2 point
penalty; 3:21 to 3:30 – 4 point penalty, etc.).
Poems should be suitable for young audiences. (excessive violence, sexually explicit content,
explicit language and/or degrading language to any group of people are discouraged).
Poets must be residing, working and/or schooling within The City of Tshwane to be eligible
to enter the competition.
No props, no costumes, no instruments (just you and your voice).
Poems can be in any of the South African languages, if the poem is in any language either than
English, please provide a translation.
Poets may not do introductions to their poems. Any introduction will count into the time of
the poet, and the timekeeper will start the clock from the first word the poet says.
Poets must be between the ages of 16 and 30.
When requested, poets will be required to provide proof that they do indeed Live, Work or
School within The City of Tshwane, failure of which will result in their disqualification from
the competition.
The top 5 poets from each knockout will advance to the Semi-finals.
The top 10 scoring poets during the semi-finals will advance to the Grand Finale
If poets advance, they are allowed to repeat poems between Knockouts, Semi-Finals and
Grand Finale. However, poets may NOT perform the same poem more than once within any
single event. (i.e. you may not perform the same poem in both rounds of the Semi-Finals).
Poets that do not abide by this rule will be disqualified.
Tips and Advice
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We encourage you to become intimately familiar with the poems you will compete with.
Memorization is not required (music stands will be available at all venues), but you want to
really bust your piece. Rehearse! Know your poem.
Be respectful of yourself, the youth writing community, and the community you represent.
Have fun in this process. If you get eliminated so what. It says nothing about your abilities and
potential as a writer, thinker, and cultural leader. By getting on a mic and telling your story, you
are already showing your strength and character.
Structure of events
Structure
Judges
Preliminary Knockout Events
Round 1 – up to 30 poets
Round 2 – 15 poets
Top 5 advance to Semi-finals
 Featured Poet
 2 Audience members / Volunteer Judges
Semi-Finals
Structure
Round 1 – 30 poets
Round 2 – 15 poets
Top 10 advance to the Grand Finale
Judges
Structure
 5 invited judges
Grand Finale
Round 1 – 10 poets
Round 2 – 7 poets
Round 3 – 5 poets
 5 invited judges
Judges
Assessment Criteria
The judges will be considering the following criteria when judging the competition:
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Performance/Stage presence.
Writing/content.
overall impression.
Each of the judges will be giving a score between 1.0 and 10. The total score per poet will be 30 points.
The top 5 scoring poets in the knockout events will advance to the semi-finals. In the event of a tie, the
concerned poets will partake in a tie breaker round.