Urban Voices/L’écho de la ville 2007

The English/Literacy and French as a Second Language departments are pleased to invite your school to participate in the eighth annual district-wide publication of student poetry, Urban Voices/L’écho de la ville 2007. The volume will include original poems in English and French (Core, Extended, and Immersion). We invite students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 to submit their creations. Each poem must be a revised and edited copy, legibly printed or handwritten, or typed in 12-point font size. Each poem must have a title for identification purposes. Students may write in any poetic style.

While Urban Voices/L’écho de la ville is devoted primarily to poetry, it will also include some illustrations for visual effect. We require black-and-white illustrations, one of which may be selected as the cover design. Entries can illustrate or accompany a poem, or they can stand on their own. In order to produce clear copies, we ask that the original illustration be drawn on unlined paper using a fine-line marker, pen, or dark pencil. The maximum size for each entry is 8 ½”x 11”. No faxes will be accepted.

Each poem or illustration must be accompanied by a separate Student Entry Form (click here to download). Submissions will be considered only if the entry form has been completed and signed by the student and teacher, and a parent or guardian if the student is under the age of 16. No entries will be returned.

Both secondary and elementary entries (French and English) must be received by the appropriate contact person for your region (see below) by THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2007. There will be no exceptions.

Don’t wait until February! Poetry is an integral part of the English/Language Arts and French curricula. Give your students many opportunities over the next four months to plan, write, revise and edit their poetic works. Prior to submitting to Urban Voices/L’écho de la ville 2007, we encourage you to form a school screening committee of students and teachers to judge the merits of the student entries, and to select only those poems/illustrations that are deemed to be of high quality, to a maximum of 20 submissions per school.

The following criteria have been used by judges to determine the merits of a poem:

1. The poem is the original work of the student. (Please help us avoid any plagiarized
entries by conveying to students both the seriousness of plagiarism and the satisfaction of original, creative effort. When in doubt, please do a Google search to see if the poem is posted on line! Each year we identify several plagiarized submissions.)

2. The poem is a polished final draft rather than an initial attempt.

3 The poem presents ideas or images in a fresh, original, and detailed manner.
(Students might examine poems that immerse the reader in a scene [cf. 2004 Volume: pp. 33, 96, 132, 165; 2005 Volume: pp. 14, 143, 155, 187, 2006 Volume: pp. 25, 57, 73, 202]. Or have students identify what they believe are effective poems for use as models.)

4. The poem has a natural flow. It is free from forced rhymes and rhythms.

5. The author shows a consistent point of view.

6. The poem goes beyond merely a formula exercise.

Thank you for promoting and participating in this exciting literacy project with your students and staff.

Northeast submissions Carol Ricker-Wilson 140 Borough Drive, Level 2 Route NE