Poem Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A plain “Poem” class on a festival syllabus: in two of the three syllabuses that carry it the entrant delivers a poem aloud for the judge, and in the third it is a short poem submitted for judging.

“Poem” is the bare class name some syllabuses use for their poetry section, with no word such as “recitation” or “writing” attached, so the first job for an entrant or organiser is to read what the syllabus means by it. In the three eTalenter templates that carry the title it means two different things: in a provincial scouting talent contest and in a rural New South Wales eisteddfod it is a spoken class, where the entrant stands up and delivers a poem to the judge; in a state-level women’s association cultural competition it is a submitted entry of no more than 24 lines that sits beside the short story, photography and art sections.

Run as a spoken class, a round is simple. Entrants are called in turn within their age class, each delivers one poem in English, and the judge marks the delivery on the day. In the scouting contest the poem is set by the organiser for the youngest level and every entrant at that level performs the same piece, so the judge is comparing how the same words are handled; in the eisteddfod each age class is judged separately, and the syllabus carries general repeat rules for own-choice items, including that an item which won first prize the previous year may not be entered again.

Run as a submitted entry, there is no stage at all. The member sends in a poem within the line limit, it is judged for the writing, and it is judged alongside the other cultural sections for the association’s state conference. The rules print the 24-line limit and that entry is open to members only; they print no marks for it, so how the writing is weighed is left to the judge.

Organisers keep a plain Poem class because it is one of the cheapest items to stage: no costume, props, music or equipment, it asks very little of the organiser’s schedule, and it works for the very youngest entrants (the eisteddfod takes children of six and under) as well as adults. It is also the natural gateway to the longer verse-speaking, humorous-poem and bush-poem classes that sit above it in a speech and drama section.

Where Poem is run

The title appears in three eTalenter templates. A provincial scouting talent contest in the Philippines uses it for its youngest level, a set English poem delivered aloud and open to girls only. A rural eisteddfod in New South Wales, Australia, runs it as a spoken English class for seven age classes from six and under up to open. A state cultural competition run by a women’s association in New South Wales uses it as a senior members-only entry capped at 24 lines. Outside those three, most syllabuses name the same thing more specifically, for example Poem Recitation for the spoken version and Poem Writing for the composed version.

• Philippines
• New South Wales, Australia

Key facts

• Always an Individual item in the three templates that carry it
• Language is English in every template
• Spoken in two templates (scouting talent contest, rural eisteddfod) and a submitted entry of up to 24 lines in the third (women’s association cultural competition)
• One template spreads it across seven age classes, from six and under to open; another uses it for a single youngest level
• The scouting contest sets the poem for its youngest level; the eisteddfod syllabus applies general own-choice repeat rules
• No marks or criteria are printed for it in any of the three, so the templates install it as a total out of 100

On eTalenter, Poem is filed under Creative Writing, Literary and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 3 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Poem is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100.

What judges look at in Poem

What a Poem panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• In the spoken classes, clear diction in English – every word reaching the judge without the entrant rushing the ends of lines
• Memory: a poem delivered without hesitation or prompting, especially at the youngest levels where a set piece makes any slip obvious
• Voice and pace that follow the poem’s mood, so a gentle poem is not shouted and a lively one is not read flat
• Understanding shown in delivery – the entrant’s pauses and stresses should fall where the sense of the lines falls
• In the submitted version, writing quality within the 24-line limit: a clear idea, controlled rhythm or rhyme, and no padding to fill the lines
• No criteria are printed with marks for any of these, so treat this list as general advice on where judges look, not as a published scoring scheme

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Poem under Scoring Setup, or start from the full recitation & poetry judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Poem

How entrants and their teachers usually get Poem right on the day:

• Read the syllabus first and confirm whether Poem means a spoken class or a submitted entry at that event – they need completely different preparation
• For a set poem, learn it from the organiser’s printed text, not from memory of a similar version, because small word differences are noticed
• Where the entrant picks the poem, choose verse that suits their age and voice, and check the syllabus’s own-choice repeat rule before settling on last year’s winner
• Practise saying the poem aloud to a listener a few times a week for a fortnight rather than learning it all in one evening
• Rehearse the first and last lines hardest – a confident start and a clean finish carry a lot of the judge’s impression
• For a submitted entry, count the lines before posting, read it aloud once to catch clumsy rhythm, and keep to the word of the line limit

Frequently asked questions

Is Poem judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Is Poem the same as Poem Recitation?

Where the syllabus makes it a spoken class, it is the same activity as Poem Recitation: one entrant delivers a poem aloud for the judge. The title differs only because some syllabuses leave the extra word off. Where the syllabus makes it a submitted entry, it is closer to Poem Writing.

Does the entrant choose the poem?

It depends on the event. In the scouting talent contest the poem for the youngest level is set by the organiser. Where the syllabus leaves the choice to the entrant, its own-choice repeat rules apply, including that an item which won first prize the previous year cannot be entered again.

How long can a Poem entry be?

The women’s association competition prints a limit of 24 lines for its submitted entry. The other two syllabuses print no time limit for the plain Poem class in the data eTalenter holds, so check the current syllabus.

Can boys enter?

In the scouting talent contest the class is for girls only. The eisteddfod template lists it as open to both boys and girls, and the women’s association entry is for members only.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full recitation & poetry judging criteria guide, or browse every creative writing competition item.