For each of their recitations, students receive an accuracy score and a cumulative performance score.
At the classroom contest, the teacher can be the sole performance judge. Another teacher or a student can play the role of accuracy judge.
At the school contest, you’ll need one accuracy judge and three performance judges. If students will be reciting in French, you’ll need additional French-speaking judges.
At the Junior Online Finals and at the Online Qualifiers and the National Finals, Canadian poets are the judges.
If you feel you may have a conflict of interest, please let the event organizers know ASAP.
Potential conflicts of interest include:
- Being the relative of one of the contestants
- Being the teacher of one of the contestants (in the case of the online contests, the National Finals, or the Team Regionals)
- Being an alumni of one of the competing schools (in the case of the online contests, the National Finals, or the Team Regionals)
PERFORMANCE JUDGE
A performance judge uses our Scoring Rubric and Evaluation Sheet to give each student a performance score.
As each student recites, you will closely watch their performance and evaluate for physical presence, voice and articulation, evidence of understanding, interpretation, and overall performance.
Review the evaluation materials carefully and ask the contest organizer any questions you may have.
Before the Contest
The contest organizer will provide you with a copy of the poems that will be recited. It’s helpful to read through the poems and become familiar with them.
You may want to practise judging by watching a few recitation videos using the Evaluation Sheet.
During the Contest
- When you arrive, the organizer will provide you with the appropriate Evaluation Sheets.
- As each student recites, fill out the Evaluation Sheet.
- When the recitation is over, take a few seconds to review the sheet and ensure you’ve assigned a score for each criterion.
- As soon as you’re done, give the sheet to the tabulator.
ACCURACY JUDGE
An accuracy judge silently reads the poem being recited (using the version from our website) and uses our Accuracy Score Sheet to give the student an accuracy score.
Our accuracy scoring system differentiates between small errors (saying “a” instead of “the,” for example), big errors (like skipping a line or a stanza), and using the prompter.
A perfect accuracy score is 8, and no matter how many accuracy errors a student makes, the lowest possible accuracy score is 1.
Review the Accuracy Score Sheet carefully and ask the contest organizer any questions you may have.
Before the Contest
Read through the poems that will be recited (the contest organizer should provide you with these). Devise a system for marking up each kind of error. For example:
- T = transposed words
- X = a dropped word
- P = help from the prompter
- XX = a dropped line
During the Contest
- When you arrive, the organizer will provide you with the full set of poems in the order of recitation and the appropriate number of Accuracy Score Sheets.
- As each student recites, follow along, mark any errors, and fill out one Accuracy Score Sheet accordingly. Keep in mind that it’s not unusual for most students to have perfect accuracy scores.
- As soon as you’re done, give the sheet to the tabulator.