Taking its cue from the World Poetry Day, that was established by the 30th Unesco General Conference in Paris in 1999 and is celebrated every year on March 21, OPAM - Organization for the Promotion of Literacy in the World - on the 50th anniversary of its birth has decided to hold its "First International Poetry Contest".
Today more than ever we all need poetry. We need to read it, alone or together, but also to compose it. Poetry more than any other form of creative expression, in fact, is suitable to communicating feelings, emotions and desires. Thus, in these hard times as a consequence of the pandemic, poetry has come back with strength at the centre of the cultural and educational experience, as a resource to counter the growing feeling of loneliness and loss that affects everyone and in particular our children and youth.
Furthermore, as an expression of cultural and linguistic identity, poetry enhances diversity and resonates with our common humanity and our shared values, thus becoming a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.
RULES
1. Participants
Students from primary and secondary schools from all over the world can participate individually or as a class. Participation is free. Each class can participate with one collective work and a maximum of 3 individual works.
2. Theme of poems
The poetic text is to be intended as a "love letter addressed to the world", just as the well-known quote from Charlie Chaplin says.
The poem must be fully developed by the students and must not contain parts of other authors.
The sheet/file with the text of the poem must contain the following information:
Author’s Name and Surname
Age
Class
Section
School
3. Language
Poems can be written in one's own national or local language or dialects. Poems in local and/or dialectal languages must be accompanied by a presentation in vehicular language made by the teacher.
4. Modalities and Deadlines
The poems must be sent through email by the appointed teacher as attachments in pdf format. Each submission will be represented with two files: one pdf file of the scan of the manuscript and one pdf file produced from the transcription of the text with Word or another word processing programme. The email will contain the following data:
Teacher’s Name and Surname
Email address Phone
Teaching subject
Name of the School Institution and, if needed, the individual building
School mailing address
City State Country
No. of attached files.
In addition, if your school has a library, you can provide the name and contact details of the teacher or librarian.
The works must be sent no later than 12 April 2022 to the following address: educazione@opam.it
specifying in the subject line: OPAM POETRY COMPETITION
5. Winners and prizes
All participants will receive a certificate of participation in digital format and their poems will be published online in a dedicated space on the OPAM website.
A jury, chaired by the President of OPAM Fr Robert Kasereka Ngongi and made up of exponents from the world of education, journalism and culture from the participating Countries, will choose overall the 20 most significant poems by age group and class attended.
The winning poems will be published in the OPAM magazine and the winner's class will receive a prize of € 200.00 to be used to buy teaching materials or books.
The awards ceremony will be held online in the first week of June 2022.
More details will be provided later in relation to the progress of the pandemic.
6. Property
All the works will remain available to OPAM which reserves the right to publish them without any charge towards the author(s).