General Rules and Guidelines for Participation in the 4th Edition of the Poetry Writing Competition (2025) - one of the main activities of the County Project “Dor de Eminescu/Missing Our National Poet”

General Rules and Guidelines for Participation in the 4^th Edition of the Poetry Writing Competition (2025) - one of the main activities of the County Project “Dor de Eminescu/Missing Our National Poet”

1.Title of the poetry writing competition:“Dor de Eminescu/Missing Our National Poet”

2. Context/Argument

Eminescu has been and will remain the poet of all Romanians. Every year, students and teachers all over the country organize various cultural events in honor of the one who was called the "Morning Star of Romanian Poetry," Mihai Eminescu, so that he will never be forgotten. The educational project “Dor de Eminescu/Missing Our National Poet” and the homonymous poetry writing competition celebrate the genius and legacy of our national poet.

3.  Project goal and main objectives

The project aims at removing communication barriers between teachers, students, and their parents, encouraging positive changes in the learning environment by improving the relationships between the actors of the educational process and promoting the active roles of teachers, students and parents in education.

The main objectives of the project are:

- to know the the main biographical data of the national poet;

- to become familiar with Mihai Eminescu’s literary work;

- to reflect on the most representative Romanian poet’s verses and artistic creations;

- to listen to and perform song lyrics based on Eminescu’s poetry;

- to create poetry inspired by Mihai Eminescu’s themes of nature, love, and time;

- to develop key competences for lifelong learning: communication in Romanian and English, digital competence, learning-to-learn skills, social and civic competencies, a spirit of initiative, and cultural awareness and expression.

4. Eligibility and target groups

All students between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18) who are enrolled in a school located in Buzău County are eligible to participate in the fourth edition of the Poetry Writing Competition organized by Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu”, on 16 May 2025, either on site or online, depending on the general context.

Age groups: participants will be divided into categories based on their grade level to ensure fair competition (lower secondary level: Grades 5-8; upper secondary level: Grades 9-12). 

5. Poetry themes to be considered for the competition

The poetry writing competition will take place on 16 May 2025, at Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele. All the poems entering the competition must be inspired by Mihai Eminescu’s poetry themes: love, nature, time, beauty, immortality etc.

6. Competition Timeline

Teachers must register the participants for the competition, each participation being accompanied by the submission of the student registration form which will be secured by the coordinating teachers (ltrvp@yahoo.com)  .

Each contestant creates one (1) poem inspired by the poetry of our national poet and dedicated to Mihai Eminescu. Each poem must be the entrant’s original work, created on the day of the poetry writing competition, 16 May 2025.

Poems must not have been published, self-published, shared on a website or made public on social media, broadcast or featured among the winners in another competition.

All poems must have a title and must not exceed 30 lines in length (excluding title).

7. Competition Coordination and Evaluation

The competition organisers and evaluators for section B of the project (conducted in English) come from 4 schools located in Buzău county and are as follows:

- Mrs. Frînculeasă Claudia Emilia - Liceul Teoretic ,,Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele;

- Mrs. Haralambie Monica - Colegiul Național “Mihai Eminescu” Buzău;

- Mrs. Pană Maria - Liceul Teoretic ,,Nicolae Iorga” Nehoiu;

- Mrs. Tănăsescu Cristina Florentina - Liceul Teoretic ,,Nicolae Iorga” Nehoiu;

- Mrs. Moală Maria Liliana - Liceul Tehnologic oraș Pătârlagele.

The coordinators, all teachers of English, will evaluate the original creations of the participants anonymously, based on the judging criteria below, shared with all the coordinating teachers in the partner schools at least two weeks before the competition.

Judging Criteria for the poetry writing competition (10 points)

•         Relevance to the theme (3 points)
•         Creativity/Style and Originality (3 points)                                                            
•        Coherence of form and structure (harmony of words, presentation) (2 points)
•        Clarity of imagery and language (1 point)
•        Accuracy-correct grammar and vocabulary (1 point)

All entries will be judged anonymously so the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself. The judges’ decisions and marks will be final.

The number of prizes awarded in the competition will not exceed 25% of the total number of participants.                                                 

8. Dissemination

The results of the main activities within the educational project “Dor de Eminescu/ Missing Our National Poet”) will be disseminated online, on the blog of the teachers of English on the Buzău Valley, https://englishteachingonthebuzauvalley.blogspot.com/  , and on the national platform www.iteach.ro . The winners of the 2025 edition of the poetry writing competition will be promoted on https://englishteachingonthebuzauvalley.blogspot.com/  , the English teachers’ blog, before 19 May 2025.

9. Official Certification

Signed and stamped certificates will be granted to the coordinators and evaluators and diplomas (for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd prizes) and books will be granted to the students whose poetic creations have obtained the following scores:

•   the 1^st prize will be awarded for 9.50 – 10.00 points;
•   the 2^nd prize will be awarded for 9.00 – 9.49 points;
•   the 3^rd prize will be awarded for 8.50 – 8.99 points.

The rest of the participants will receive diplomas of participation signed and stamped by the coordinating school, Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele. 

10. Final poetry writing regulations 

- No fees or financial support will be required from the project participants or the partner schools; 

- Health guidelines: all participants must adhere to any health or safety protocols in place, as required by local regulations. The teachers are responsible for the safety of their students during all the project activities; 

- Each teacher will inform his/her students about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and get the formal consent of the parents/tutors to use their personal data for the purposes of this project.

School Principal,                                                   Poetry Writing Competition Organiser,

Mr. Constantin MIRCICĂ                                    Mrs. Claudia Emilia FRÎNCULEASĂ