Competition open for students 15 years and older. The theme is ‘Respectful Relationships’.

White Ribbon are holding their second spoken word competition via zoom on Thursday 17 September and it’s going to be a night of hot poetry, sizzling truths and fiery performances.

The theme of the night is ‘Respectful Relationships’ so get ready for some amazing rhymes and inspired takes on ending (men’s) violence in New Zealand.

Last year’s White Ribbon campaign focused on #Unspoken Rules – clichés about masculinity that men and boys inherit from society. By turning these rules around into positive statements, we encouraged people to challenge them.This year it is Challenge the #Outdated. This will pivot the focus from the unspoken to the outdated and focus on the advice men have been given when growing up that we can now see as unhealthy. The campaign will continue to take a conversational tone and use the common expressions that men would have heard growing up. These unhealthy attitudes will literally be overwritten with positive alternatives – creating new, modern alternatives to outdated ideas of masculinity.Contestants can speak to any of these concepts.

Judges and prizes will be announced soon.

Rules:

Poems must be the original work of the performer/s. Plagiarised material will result in disqualification.
Performers must be students at a NZ secondary school (or equivalent) and 15 years or older
Poets can perform by themselves or with a team.
No accompaniment by sound, props, or costume is allowed.
Each poem should be between 1-4 minutes (max of 5 minutes).

Contestants will be marked down for going over time.
No musical accompaniment. No props. No costumes. Personal poem transcripts permitted.
Judges mark score cards using a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest.
Scores will be based on: performance, writing ability and uniqueness.
All performances must be inspired by the theme of ‘Respectful Relationships’
All entrants must supply their script.
White Ribbon reserves the right to take photos and videos of the performers at the event and utilise the video/photos/script to promote Respectful Relationships.

Entry:

You will need to provide your email address, school, name and stage name if applicable, and upload or send us the text of your poem. You may also upload a video of you performing the poem if you wish. You’ll also need to provide a photo for the programme and a brief bio for our MC so our MC can introduce you. Entry form.

On the Night:

Information about the evening will be sent to all performers. There will be an opportunity for a brief technical sound check prior to the event beginning.

Public can join the zoom webinar here https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87000694254?pwd=RFZOQVpqSmNPL2ZQalkxTmNWSGFFUT09
Passcode: 809348

Prizes:

We hope to announce the prizes in the next few weeks. The bare minimum is $500 for first place and $200 for the runner up and $100 for third place. Your work could also feature in the November White Ribbon Campaign.

Watch the video to see last year's winner.