Hviezdoslav's Kubín

Hviezdoslav's Kubín is a national advancement competition in children’s recitation and in the artistic recitation of poetry and prose by groups, individuals and poetry theatres. Its mission is to deepen literary knowledge, foster creativity, cultivate language and speech and thus to refine attitudes to the cultural and artistic value of the spoken word.

Established in 1954, Hviezdoslav's Kubín is the oldest and most prestigious competition in artistic recitation and the production of poetry theatres in Slovakia. Owing to the co-operation between the panel of advisers for artistic recitation and the Association of Slovak Writers the competition has gradually won high credit and has become the highest national forum for amateur recitation of poetry, prose and poetry theatres. Currently the competition is held at the Dolný Kubín Municipal Cultural Centre. The National Centre of Culture in Bratislava announces the event and is the guarantor, while the organiser is Dolný Kubín Municipal Government.

The competition has several rounds (class, school, district, area and regional championships) and is run as a competition for both individuals and of teams. The competition for individuals is organised for children (categories I – III, according to school grades), youth, (category IV – high school students, up to 19 years), adults (category V – undergraduates and working people from the age of 20 years) and senior (category VI – over 50 years), with all categories of the competition being separate for presentation of poetry and for prose. The team competition includes recitation teams and poetry theatres with an average performer age of up to 15 and over 15 years. The national competition in Dolný Kubín provides an opportunity for presentation, dialogue and inspiration of participants, both by the competition itself and by the assessment discussions, creative workshops, and other forms of education activities. Presentations are evaluated by expert juries, and the lecturers’ panel, and in recent years also by the children’s (children’s recitation) and students (reciters of categories IV and V) juries, which are drawn from representatives of the children and youth of the region. Inherent to Hviezdoslav's Kubín from its inception are its accompanying bibliophilia, almanacs and publications.