FOR 2012 Creative Festivals Revisions

Introduction From January 2011 meetings: Our goals were to simplify the paperwork and regulations for the adults and to make a more engaging program for the children. We chose to address only the four traditional festival categories at this point. We have a standardized set of eligibility requirements, and a revised rubric for judging. We will be reformatting the Standard Identification Form. We only briefly discussed the awards ceremony, choosing to await response to our initial revisions. Some of the concerns that we responded to are listed below. We would like to implement our revisions in This year we would like the Creative Festival Coordinators to pretend to use the new forms, including acting as judges and using the new rubrics. We will then evaluate whether our revisions are workable for the following year.

Concern #1 “The Festivals appear overwhelming with all the rules, papers to be filled out, etc.” Response a: Standardize and simplify rules. Response b: Forms will be able to filled out online and printed.

Concerns #2 & #3 “Judging takes too long as the rubrics are too complicated,” OR, “The students are judged against each other, which produces resentment.” Response a: Provide a simple, reliable rubric, modeled after those of public schools.

Concerns #4 & #5 “Entries that don’t express the theme win.” OR “Entries are disqualified in a preliminary round because they don’t express the theme.” Response a: The Standard Identification Sheet will require the student to explain how their entry is related to the theme in case it appears to be irrelevant. Response b: The Standard Identification Sheet will be reformatted so that the title of the artwork will be available to the judges as they evaluate the piece. (The bottom section will fold and be placed below the piece of artwork.. or...? I am still creatively working with my piece of paper. Somehow the title will be visible and it will be fairly easy to do. Suggestions welcome.) Response c: The rubric will have a “theme” category weighted just as the others. A judge can give points as to how well the piece expressed the theme.

Concern #6 “The children don’t want to participate because they don’t win.” Response a: Provide a DVD with their art and writing for the Fellowship websites. Response b: Increase the amount of winners by reworking the schema of 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd place, and ribbons of participation. One idea is to have those who score 95% and above receive a Gold Ribbon, and those who score 80-95% receive a Silver Ribbon, and those who score 80% and below receive a Red Ribbon. Other Idea c: More awarding groups could be made for most colorful, interesting media, etc. Other Idea d: Group projects, for example the third grade would work on a class project.

GENERAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS To be eligible for judging Entrants must be members, or children of catechumens, in a parish or mission in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. 2. Entries must be an expression of the theme. 3. Students can submit only one entry in each category (art, photography, writing, poetry, etc.) 4. Entries must be the student’s own work. 5. Entries must be created between April 1 st of the previous year and April 1 st of the present year. 6. Entrants must be in grades one through 12. For Preschool and Kindergarten children, a special lesson plan with resources as well as a downloadable participation certificate will be available on the website. 7. No signature, initials, or identifying marks may appear on the piece of art, writing, poetry, or photography. 8. The Standard Identification Form must be glued, stapled, or taped to the back of each entry, and the Record of Participants Form must accompany each mailing. 9. Mailings must be postmarked by April 1.

SPECIFIC ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND NOTES ARTPHOTOGRAPHYWRITINGPOETRY 1.Entries must be original works of art, done by the student’s own hand. Since the emphasis is on creativity, copying, tracing, coloring in line drawings, etc., is not acceptable. Icons can be referred to when sketching, but not traced. 2.SIZE: Entries must be mounted or matted, unless the art has been done directly on foam board, matte board, or poster board, stretched canvas, or other firm material, to assist in its display. Including the matte or mounting, the entry must be no larger than 18 inches by 24 inches and no smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches. The maximum width or depth is 6.” 3.Any medium is acceptable. Keep in mind the packaging and shipping required for certain media. 4. All writing on the artwork must be in the hand of the student. 1.Entries must be original photos, taken by the student. Since the the emphasis is on creativity, copying photos or taking photos of photos is not allowed. 2.SIZE: Entries must be mounted or matted on foam board, or poster board, or other firm material, to assist in its display. Including the matte or mounting, the entry must be no larger than 11 inches by 14 inches and no smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches. 3.Entries may be black and white, or color. 4.An entry may consist of one or more photos (as in a collage). 5.Captions or titles are permitted, and may be handwritten or done by computer. 6. Digital photos may be edited before use. 1.Entries must be original compositions and not copied or paraphrased from published works or other sources. 2. The student may ask a teacher, parent, or a computer program check the entry for correct spelling and punctuation. However, a parent or teacher may not rearrange or substitute words. 3. Entries must be typewritten on 8 1/2 x 11 white paper, double spaced, in Times New Roman font, size 12. Four copies are to be submitted. If a child cannot submit a typed entry, the teacher or church school director is to accept a handwritten piece and type it. 4. There is no minimum length for Grade 1 and 2 entries. Dictation is permitted for Grade 1. For Grades 3 through 12 there is a three (3) page maximum length. 1.Entries must be original compositions and not copied or paraphrased from published works or other sources. 2. Students may ask a teacher, parent, or a computer program to check the entry for correct spelling and punctuation. However, a parent or teacher may not rearrange or substitute words. 3. Entries must be typewritten on 8 1/2 x 11 white paper, double spaced, in Times New Roman font, size 12. Four copies are to be submitted. If a child cannot submit a typed entry, the teacher or church school director is to accept a handwritten piece and type it. 4. Entries may be of any length and in any style. Dictation is permitted for Grade 1.

ART RUBRIC Two rubrics will fit on each 8 ½ X 11 sheet, thus saving paper. Under each heading, place a check mark in the box that best reflects the score in that category. Add the points awarded in each category and write the total number in the appropriate box. Use of CF ThemeCraftsmanship (Talent, neatness, ability, control of media) Composition (Harmony, Proportion, Visual Impression) Creativity (Well thought out, and thoroughly developed) 4 Excellent 3 Good 2 Basic 1 Poor Non-Scorable (NS) Contains information about the Orthodox Faith that is incorrect. TOTAL POINTS: /16

PHOTOGRAPHY RUBRIC Under each heading, place a check mark in the box that best reflects the score in that category. Add the points awarded in each category and write the total number in the appropriate box. Use of CF ThemeCraftsmanshipCompositionCreativity 4 Excellent 3 Good 2 Basic 1 Poor Non-Scorable (NS) Contains information about the Orthodox Faith that is incorrect. TOTAL POINTS: /16

WRITING RUBRIC Under each heading, circle the score description that best represents the piece. Add the points awarded in each category and write the total number in the appropriate box. CF THEME (How the theme is used) ORGANIZATION and FOCUS (Focus is continuity of thought) STYLE (The choice, use, and arrangement of words and sentence structure) CONVENTIONS (Grammar, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, tenses, persons, sentence formation) CONTENT (The development of ideas) 4Excellent use of theme. Clear beginning, middle, end, easy transitions between paragraphs. Maintains strong focus throughout. Variety of words and sentence structure inspires, convinces, and engages. No errors.The writer provides interesting details that clearly support the topic. 3Sufficient use of theme. Beginning, middle, end is present with some evidence of transitions. Focus present throughout. Variety of words and sentence structure. Minimal errors.The writer provides sufficient details to support the topic. 2Use of theme. Inconsistent arrangement of content, some evidence of focus. Limited word choice and sentence structure. Some errors.The writer provides some details to support the topic. 1Little or no use of theme. Minimal evidence of a beginning, middle, end or focus. Minimal variety of word choice and sentence structure. Numerous errors. The writer provides few details to support the topic. Non-Scorable (NS) Contains information about the Orthodox Faith that is incorrect. TOTAL POINTS: /20

POETRY RUBRIC Under each heading, circle the score description that best represents the piece. Add the points awarded in each category and write the total number in the appropriate box. CF THEME (How the theme is used) ABILITY TO CAPTIVATE THE READER SENSORY IMAGES PUNCTUATIONUSE OF LANGUAGE 4 Excellent use of theme. Captivates and involves the reader deeply. Vivid, detailed images and intensely felt emotion. Punctuation enhances conveyance of thoughts and images. Uses rich and imaginative language. 3 Sufficient use of theme. Well focused and interests reader throughout. Clear use of sensory images to portray ideas or emotions. Punctuation meaningful throughout. Appropriate choice of language. 2 Use of theme.Some focus, but lacks continuity. Some use of image, idea or emotion. Some meaningful punctuation. Expresses thoughts marginally. 1 Little or no use of theme. Unfocused; author seems unsure of direction. Difficult to visualize image or emotion. Arbitrary punctuation. Imprecise, or inappropriate choice of words. Non-Scorable (NS) Contains information about the Orthodox Faith that is incorrect. TOTAL POINTS: /20