Poetry Slam!

One of my favorite events during the year in my library is the Poetry Slam! Last year we held the first one with 18 students entering. By the finals on day three we had over 200 students and staff filling the library...all to hear poetry! It was awesome.

So, this year we held our Second Annual Poetry Slam. I messed up on the timing a bit and it happened during standardized testing, but it has still been a great success and I couldn't be happier! Our judges were a combination of local poets, local musicians, and teachers from our staff. Last year's winner joined them to help judge the finals. Here's a brief play-by-play:

• Monday--17 poets competed, reading a poem they had written (2 minute limit each)
• Tuesday--8 semi-finalists competed, reading a poem they had written in the past 24 hours that used 5 words from a list of 13 that I gave them
• Wednesday (today)--3 finalists performed, reading a poem they had written in the past 24 hours based on the theme of courage.

I am so proud of all the entrants! The level of poetry and performance were higher overall than last year (I think they are starting to better understand the concept of a Slam).

The finalists each won gift certificates to our best local bookstore. I hope to encourage the participants to enter the Poetry Outloud competition next fall. Does anyone know anything about that program?