2023 Competition
In 2023 we have decided to focus our efforts on the Poetry Recitation Competition. For this reason, the Original Poetry and Discorso competitions will not run.
The Competition
Senior students entering the Discorso Competition are required to write an original dissertation on a topic of their choosing. Students may choose to work individually or in pairs.
Sections
Entries for the Discorso Competition will be accepted from students in Years 11 & 12 in the following sections:
Madre Lingua
Those students recently arrived in Australia and/or were born and educated (for a number of years) in Italy.
Italian-Australian
Students of Italian heritage. They may or may not speak or hear Italian spoken at home by parents or relatives. This is a category also for students who have one parent who is of Italian birth or heritage (including if they have an Italian background but were born in Australia); the students may or may not have an Italian surname. Students in this category have an advantage over Non-Italian heritage students. They may have some other regular contact with the Italian culture and language additional to their tuition received at school.
Non-Italian
Reserved for students who have NO knowledge of the Italian language or links to the Italian culture. Their exposure to the Italian language and culture is solely through lessons received at school. This category is for students who have another nationality or heritage which is not ITALIAN. Students of Italian Australian heritage must not be entered into this category.
Madre Lingua
Those students recently arrived in Australia and/or were born and educated (for a number of years) in Italy.
Italian-Australian
Students of Italian heritage. They may or may not speak or hear Italian spoken at home by parents or relatives. This is a category also for students who have one parent who is of Italian birth or heritage (including if they have an Italian background but were born in Australia); the students may or may not have an Italian surname. Students in this category have an advantage over Non-Italian heritage students. They may have some other regular contact with the Italian culture and language additional to their tuition received at school.
Non-Italian
Reserved for students who have NO knowledge of the Italian language or links to the Italian culture. Their exposure to the Italian language and culture is solely through lessons received at school. This category is for students who have another nationality or heritage which is not ITALIAN. Students of Italian Australian heritage must not be entered into this category.
Cost
A non-refundable fee of $10 per student must be paid at the time of registraiton. This is to cover the administrative costs of the competition.
Discorso Submission
Student work is to be submitted in the following format along with Entry Forms (see below)
- Student work must be in 12pt Calibri
- All student work from your school should be submitted in one Word Document
- Each student/s' work should be presented on a separate page of the Document
- Above each discorso the following information should be included:
- Name:
- School:
- Year Level:
- Section: Non-Italian Individual* (example)
Entry Forms
All entrants must be listed by the teacher on the form provided in the following manner:
- Submit only one entry form per school - this saves you time!
- Divided by year level and Section (i.e. Year 12, Non-Italian)
- Each group of students (i.e. Year 11, Italian-Australian) must be listed in alphabetical order by surname
- First Name, Surname format (i.e. Jack Nguyen NOT Nguyen, Jack)
- Do not use CAPSLOCK (Jack Nguyen not JACK NGUYEN)
Teachers please note
Students entering the Discorso Competition are not required to recite their work in front of a judge during the first round of the Recitation Competition. Discorso texts are first judged by a panel in students' absence.