Denver Public Schools is hosting its first-ever virtual poetry slam on Thursday, May 12, 2022. All current DPS students are invited to submit pretaped routines, which will be broadcasted live the day of the virtual event. To accommodate all participants, the event will be organized in three bands: elementary (K-5), middle (6-8) and high school (9-12). The poetry slam will be recorded for later viewing as well.
Student poets will be scored by a panel of five judges. The top and bottom scores will be dropped, and the remaining three scores will be averaged for the overall score. View the poetry slam rubric.
Video Submission Guidelines
- The deadline for student poets to submit their videos is Wednesday, May 4, 2022.
- All poems must be original work written by the student poet(s).
- Each submission should not exceed 3 minutes.
- Families must check that their schools have pre-signed video/photo release forms for the students submitting videos.
- ELA/MLE students are welcome to present their original poems in their first language. A written English translation must also be submitted with the video file in order to provide subtitles.
- No music, costumes, backgrounds or props can be used in the submission.
- While poets are encouraged to memorize their poems, it is not required. The focus is on the fluency of the spoken word.
- While there is no limit to the number of submissions per student or group, only one submission per student or group will be selected.
- Video files need to be submitted as MP4 or MOV files through email or Google Drive to Ms. Dawn Lewallen. Please name your files according to the following format: SchoolName_StudentFirstName_StudentLastNameInitial_Grade
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