The Code Poetry Competition

This is the 2006 contest. For the 2007 contest, click HERE .
Brought to you by the Waikato ACM Student Chapter.

Results

The contest for 2006 is officially over. The results are available here

What is a code poem?

A code poem is a piece of text written in a computer programming language, to be interpreted as a poem. They are considered to be pieces of art, rather than pieces of software.

For an example, see The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, interpreted as a code poem in java by Jimmy Foulds, or Not Many by Scribe, interpreted by Dave Nichols. There's another one at rastasoft.org.

How to Enter the Competition

Email entries to by 5pm on Monday 9 October. The winners will be announded at the pub crawl on Friday the 13th of October (make sure you're there!)

The Waikato Student ACM Code Poetry Competition 2006 - Rules

Each entry to the competition is a code snippet representing a piece of literary art. The code will be written in a programming language of the entrant's choice - please specify.

There are no rules on the nature or content of the entries - each code poem may follow an existing poem (or part of a poem) as loosely or as closely as the entrant desires, or alternatively may be a completely original work.

Winners will be chosen by the judges from the Waikato CS Department, based on creativity, humour and artistic merit.

Bonus marks will be awarded if the code actually compiles and does something interesting or useful! This is not required, however.

Remember that the code itself for each entry will be interpreted as a poem, rather than as a program.

If the poem is also a working piece of code, please specify this. You can choose part of a complete program as the code snippet to be judged - in this case, all other code in the entry will not be considered except for the purposes of compiling and running your entry.

Conditions for Entry

By entering the competition, you give the Waikato Student ACM Club and the UOW Computer Science department permission to display your entry on their websites in the event that you obtain a placing. You will retain full ownership of your entry, however.

The University of Waikato may ask for your permission to use your entry for promotional purposes, but will not do this without your express consent.

Categories

Lyrics: Each submission is a piece of code representing an existing song, or part of a song.

NZ Lyrics: As above, but the submissions must represent a New Zealand song.

Poem: Based on an existing poem, or part of a poem.

Original code poem: This can be based on an original poem (in which case the original poem should be included), or written from scratch.

Prizes

To be announced!