Celebrate Poetry Day with ISN – Join Our Poetry Competition!

On 21 March 2025, the world will once again come together to celebrate the beauty of poetry! 🌟 This special day, initiated by UNESCO, honors poets, keeps the art of recitation alive, and promotes the joy of reading, writing, and performing poetry.
At International School Neustadt (ISN), we are joining the celebration with an exciting Poetry Day Competition, and we want you to be part of it! 🎉
🌎 This Year’s Theme:
"My Place in the World – Celebrating Global Identity" 🌏✨
Get ready to express yourself, share your unique perspective, and celebrate cultural diversity through poetry! 🎶
📝 How to Participate:
✍️ Write a poem – in English or German.
📧 Send it to poetryday@is-neustadt.de by 9 March 2025.
🎤 On 21 March 2025 at 18:00, you will recite your poem at our Poetry Day event and have the chance to win great prizes! 🏆
So grab your pen and paper (or laptop!) and let your creativity shine! ✨
📌 Eligibility:
✅ Open to students in grades 6 to 12 from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse and surrounding areas
✅ Poems must be original and submitted by 09 March 2025. Late submissions will not be considered!
✅ Poems should be written in English or German and must not exceed 40 lines.
✅ Poems must reflect the theme of the competition: "My Place in the World – Celebrating Global Identity".
More information about the SBW Future Skill of Global Identity can be found here: https://www.sbw.edu/en/education
✅ Email your poem to poetryday@is-neustadt.de with your full name, school, and grade level.
✅ Be present at ISN on 21 March 2025, at 18:00 to recite your poem.
🏅Competition Categories and Age Groups:
✅ Poems will be evaluated in two language categories: English and German.
✅ Within each language group, there will be two age categories:
☑ Years 6-8 (grades 6-8)
☑ Years 9-12 (grades 9-12)
✅ In each category (English and German), there will be two prizes:
☑ First Place
☑ Second Place
✅ A total of 8 winners will be selected.
📝 Judging Criteria
✅Poems will be evaluated by a panel of judges (the jury), including local poets, publishers, and teachers from ISN and other schools in the Neustadt area.
✅The judging will take place in two rounds:
☑ The first round will judge the poems as written, to develop the short list.
☑ The finalists or shortlisted poems will be invited to perform or read their
poems during the Poetry Day Event at ISN on 21 March 2025.
☑ To be eligible for prizes, poems must be performed if shortlisted.
✅ The jury will consider the following criteria:
☑ Creativity and originality
☑ Connection and relevance to the theme
☑ Deliberate use of literary techniques to express the theme
☑ Overall impact and message of the poem
✅ The jury will short list poems based on the abovementioned criteria by 12 March 2025 and will invite shortlisted poets to recite their works during the Poetry Day event on 21 March 2025.
✅ The jury will consider the following performance criteria:
☑ Tone and expression of voice
☑ Eye contact and engagement with the audience
☑ Use of pausing or pace
☑ Overall impact of the performance
🏆Prizes:
✅ The authors of the top two poems in each age group and language category (English and German) will receive prizes.
✅ Prizes will be awarded at the Poetry Day event on 21 March 2025.
📝Rights and Permissions:
✅ By submitting a poem, participants grant ISN the right to publish and share their poem on ISN's website, social media, and other promotional materials related to the competition, with appropriate credit to the author, which will include their full name and name of school.
✅ All submitted works remain the intellectual property of the authors, and ISN will always credit the author when using the poem in any context.
✅ All participants grant ISN the right to publish photos of them taken during the event.
⚖️General Terms:
✅ISN reserves the right to disqualify any entries that do not comply with the competition rules or are deemed inappropriate.
✅By entering, participants agree to abide by these terms and conditions.
✅In case of any dispute, the decision of the organizing committee will be final.
✅ISN is not responsible for any technical issues that may prevent the submission of entries by the deadline.
For any questions or concerns, please contact us at poetryday@is-neustadt.de.