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Showcase 2026 Topic: Not Disability, but a Difference!
Monday, April 13th, 2026 9:30 am to 3:00 pm at Michael J. Fox Theatre, 7373 MacPherson Avenue, Burnaby, BC
DHH students in grades K-12 from across the province will compete in one or more of the three categories:
- Spotlight Communication Contest (Oral or Signing): Grades 6-12 (live)
- ASL Poetry: K-3, 4-7 (pre-judged); 8-12 (live)
- DHH Art (pre-judged): K-3, 4-7, 8-12
Teachers and DHH students from the Lower Mainland are cordially invited to join us at the MJ Fox Theatre on April 13th, 2026to watch and encourage contestants. You do not need to register to observe, just email us how many of your students you are bringing. Parents and siblings of the contestants are also welcome.
Registration package and deadlines
- Registration – Due March 2nd, 2026. If you wish to register more than 3 students from your district for Spotlight, additional entries will be placed on waiting list until March 2nd, to allow students from other districts an opportunity to register. We will advise you on March 2nd (or earlier if appropriate) whether the waitlisted registrations are successful. Please let us know if this affects timely submission of your funding request.
- Parental consent form – March 2nd, 2026. Please forward the link to parents for completion. Once the parents complete the form, POPDHH and the TDHH/Main contact will be automatically notified.
- Funding request for out of town districts – March 2nd, 2026.
- Entry video of ASL poetry (K-3 and 4-7) – March 2nd, 2026.
- Digital entry of DHH Art – A high resolution scan in JPG or PNG format – March 2nd, 2026.
- Transcript of the Spotlight presentation – April 7th, 2026
- Registration, consent and funding request are all google forms.
- All submissions for DHH Art and ASL Poetry to be pre-judged must be submitted by the deadline
- Winners in all three events will be announced at the end of Showcase.
- Prizes: see under each category
- DHHProud Showcase 2026 – Student Version – download for full details
Click on each category below to find out more:
Spotlight Criteria
- First place winners of past POPDHH – organized events (both Optimist CCDHH competition and Spotlight) are not eligible to compete again in this category, but can submit entries in other categories.
- Open to all DHH students in either spoken English or ASL. Audiogram not required.
- Minimum 4 participants, maximum of 25 (increase from 20)
- If you wish to register more than 3 students from your district for Spotlight, additional entries will be placed on waiting list until March 2nd, to allow students from other districts an opportunity to register. We will advise you on March 2nd (or earlier if appropriate) whether the waitlisted registrations are successful. Please let us know if this affects timely submission of your funding request.
- Presentation must relate to the theme
- The presentation cannot be shorter than 3 minutes or longer than 4 minutes
- Participants are permitted one 4” x 6” index card to use as a memory aid; reading from a printout of the presentation will incur penalty points.
- Contestants are required to stay in one place or behind lectern when presenting.
- All contestants (oral and ASL) will be judged as one combined group for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
- Transcripts of all presentations must be submitted to POPDHH by April 7th, 2026
- Prizes will be announced soon
ASL Poetry Criteria
- Open to all DHH students presenting ASL poetry related to the theme
- Students who have previously won 1st place in this category cannot compete again in the same age group.
- Student’s ASL Poetry can be loosely related to this year’s theme. More importantly, students must state the title of their ASL Poetry and list all handshapes they will be using before they start the ASL Poem.
- Mandatory handshapes cannot be substituted or modified.
- The presentations cannot be shorter than 1 min, or longer than 2 min
- Grade K-3 and 5-7 contestants will record and email recording to office@popdhh.ca
- Grade 8-12 contestants will compete in person on April 13th, 2026
- Judges will pre-judge K-3 and 5-7 entries before April 13th, 2026 to determine winners in those age groups.
- Top 3 winners will be announced on Showcase day (April 13th, 2026)
| ASL poetry Grades K-3 | ASL poetry Grades 4-7 | ASL poetry Grades 8-12 |
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Prizes: TBA |
Prizes: TBA |
Prizes: TBA |
DHH Art Criteria
- THEME: My dream for a DHH-friendly world
- Open to all K-12 DHH students in the province.
- Contestants who have previously won 1st place in this category cannot compete again
- No maximum number of contestants, minimum of 4 contestants required for each age group
- Student’s artwork can be loosely related to this year’s theme but more importantly, artist statements need to accompany their artwork.
- Artist statement is optional for grades K-3, mandatory for 4-7 and 8-12.
- Teachers may help students with preparing the artist statement if needed.
- It should state: I drew/painted this image because it shows… add theme here
- Suggested topics for art inspiration: Deaf culture, pride, identity, your community, strengths, capabilities, successes or ASL
- Artwork must be original, drawn or painted on paper, canvas or aquarelle paper
- No clipart, photocopies, magazine cutouts, computer graphics, tracings, computer software, newspaper cuttings, etc.
- All artwork must be created independently by the student
- Medium: pencil drawing, watercolour, acrylic/oil, ink, pastels, crayons, felt pens, tempera
- Artists, please do not sign your work or write your name on the artwork until after the contest.
- Artwork in high resolution jpeg or png format (NOT as a PDF) and artist statement
- Artwork jpeg/png format images and artist statement must be emailed by February 21st to office@popdhh.ca.
- Judges will pre-judge prior to April 13th, 2026 to determine winners
- Top 3 winners for each age group will be announced on Showcase day April 13th, 2026.
- Prizes:
DHH Art K-3 DHH Art 4-7 DHH Art 8-12 TBA TBA TBA