CONCOURS D’ART ORATOIRE 2020 HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE COVID-19 HEALTH CRISIS.
Instead, CPF Branches across the country and Conseil jeunesse francophone de la Colombie-Britannique have launched Concours virtuel – Ensemble à distance! Click here to learn more.
CPF’s Concours d’art oratoire is Canada’s largest, annual French-language public-speaking competition, involving close to 10,000 students every year, and thousands of dollars worth of prizes. The aim of this public speaking contest is to stimulate the interest of students learning French, to improve their speaking skills, and to give them experience presenting in public.
This event is organized by Canadian Parents for French (CPF), who has worked together with parents and school staff since 1983 to organize school, district and provincial-level competitions. Concours is open to French Second Language (FSL) and Francophone students from grades 6 through 12 who are studying Core (Basic) or Intensive French, French immersion (Early or Late), or studying in a BC Francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone).
Thousands of students compete at the school and district levels, and last year, almost 300 winners traveled to the new Surrey campus of Simon Fraser University for the provincial finals where they competed in a one-day event in their specific category. First place winners in grade 12 then went on to compete at the national finals in Gatineau, Quebec, across from Ottawa. This year the national finals will again take place in Gatineau.
The competition progresses through the following stages:
- Students participate in their local classrooms
- Top students move on to the School District competition
- Top students move on to the Provincial competition
- Top students in grade 12 move on to the National competition
Different categories are set out for students in French Immersion, Core French, and Francophone students. The speeches are judged by French-speaking volunteers: from university and college professors, to teachers and native Francophones, and even French immersion graduates, many of whom have themselves competed in Concours.
Check out what it’s like to participant in the National Concours
Rules
Rules pertaining to speech length, content and criteria are standardized for Concours d’art oratoire. Teachers and judges can find the rules of Concours (English and French) here: Concours Rules
Concours Evaluation
Students’ speeches for Concours d’art oratoire are evaluated on a set rubric, standardized across Canada. Teachers and judges can find the rubric (English and French) here: Evaluation Rubric
More resources here: Teacher Resources
For full details on resources, registration and general information, check out our “How-to Concours” guide!
The Provincial Concours d’art oratoire runs so well every year thanks to dozens of volunteers and judges.
For information on the roles and responsibilities of volunteers and judges, click here.
Register to be a judge or volunteer at Provincial Concours here!
Key 2020 Concours dates
- March 10: Online Provincial registration opens
- April 10: Provincial registration deadline
- May 2: Provincial Competition, Simon Fraser University, Surrey Campus
- Early June 2020: National Competition
Registration
As soon as a student has won a regional competition, the student must register for the provincial finals and pay a nominal $20 registration. A student’s school must also hold a CPF membership in order to register a student in the provincial competition. To check what your school’s CPF membership status is, click here.
Click here to register participants online
Unsure of what category to register your student in? Click here for help!
Registration closes April 10th.
NOTE: District names, accuracy of names, titles and categories is extremely important. This information is
copied directly to the schedule. Please make all possible efforts to ensure the information is correct.
*The “conflict” in this portion references school/district competition dates. It does not reference
participant scheduling conflicts. In order to ensure fair access to the competition for all participants,
unfortunately special scheduling requests for participants will not be received or processed. Any request
for exception would mean another participant might not be able to attend the competition
- $20/student. Districts can register multiple students at once (only 1 per category).
For more information, refer to our “How-to Concours” guide.
Important Links:
**Need a printable version? Click here!
2020 BC Ferries Travel Letter (schools/districts will need to add their letterhead and information prior to travel)
