Do you have a love of words? Can you tell a sonnet from a limerick? Is poetry something you devour with gusto? Then you might be just the person we are looking for. The History Trust Poetry Takeover is looking for one or two new student judging panel members to help give feedback and award prizes to this year’s Poetry Takeover entrants.
Who are you?
- A student who is in school (or homeschooled) in South Australia in Grade 7, 8 or 9 who loves poetry and knows a little bit about it, e.g. alliteration, imagery, mood.
- Have you perhaps performed a spoken word poem? Do you love the challenge of creating a poem? Or are you hoping to become an English teacher? Then you are probably perfect.
The tasks (under the guidance of the Panel facilitator)
- Reading the poems submitted by your peers (about 50-100 poems of no more than 25 lines each)
- Making a shortlist of poems that really appeal to you (within some age categories)
- Looking at the poems against the judging criteria we have agreed on
- Engaging in robust discussion with the panel about your shortlisted poems
- Making decisions and writing brief comments about the shortlisted and winning poems (why did you love them, why are they important? What did the poet do really well?)
The commitment
Being a judge will require reading poems on your own and attending a maximum three (3) meetings: two in person and one via Zoom. Here’s what that looks like:
- An initial zoom meeting with your fellow panellists in April
- an in-person meeting on Saturday 14 May agreeing to the judging criteria and talking about what we are looking for in the poems, discussing examples and reviewing last year’s entries;
- a final meeting on Saturday 28 May to decide on the winning poems;
- reading the poems as they are submitted to you in weekly batches via email or dropbox and making a shortlist (depends on your reading speed);
- if you are successful and you live in a regional area, online attendance at meetings is possible.
If this sounds like something you would be keen to do, click through to the expression of interest form. Expressions of interest close 18 March at 5 pm so don’t delay!