Poetry Slam Resources

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Poetry Slam Overview  |  School, Regional & Grand Slams  |  Participating in the Slams  |  Preparation for Slams  |  Rules & Scoring Overview  |  Slam Prizes  |  Customary Slam Timeline  |  Resource Lists  |  Contact Us

Poetry Slam Overview

Slam poetry as a category of performance art originated in Chicago in the 1980s and continues to be popular today.

In front of a live audience, poets perform original pieces they have written, usually memorized and delivered with strong rhythmic and expressive styles. Body language and tone of voice enhance the poets’ delivery. The poems can feature themes of social commentary and personal expression.

School, Regional & Grand Slams

SCLD facilitates an annual series of poetry slams in the spring that allow local high schools and homeschool groups to compete with one another across school districts.

Slams are performed by high school students, roughly ages 14–18. Individuals must be enrolled at a participating high school or be members of a participating homeschool group.

Teen poets perform to progress through several levels of slams: School Slam, Regional Slam, and Grand Slam.

A panel of judges scores the performances to determine winners and runners up.

School Slams determine who will be Regional Slam participants and alternates. Regional Slams are held in North Spokane County and Spokane Valley. Students with the highest scores in the Regional Slams are invited to participate in the Grand Slam.

At Regional Slams, students’ scores collectively count toward the school or group score for a trophy that is kept all year until the next year’s slam competitions. The teacher of the winning group is responsible for bringing the trophy to the next year’s Regional Slams.

Community and family members are encouraged to attend all slams and bring their school spirit.

The audience can cheer for poets by snapping their fingers. They can boo the judges when they don’t agree with the scores.

Some schools may not have a student that advances to the Grand Slam, but all previous participants, schools, and groups are welcome to attend the Grand Slam as audience members.

Participating in the Slams

If your school or homeschool group is interested in participating in teen poetry slams held during the school year, a teacher from the school or a parent from the homeschool group should contact us at learner@scld.org.

To get a better sense of how the poetry slam cycle works, check out the timeline below. SCLD also provides Resource Lists for teachers and students.

Preparation for Slams

High School & Homeschool Participation

In a school setting, a teacher commits to overseeing the process of preparation for a slam. This preparation could take place in the context of a specific class, an after-school club, or integrated into the curriculum as a grade-wide activity.

Homeschool participation takes place in the context of a homeschool group, co-op, or other multi-family organization. An adult from that organization commits to overseeing the process of preparation for the slam for a group of at least five (5) students who are members of the group.

In both contexts, the responsible adult introduces student poets to the concept of slam poetry, provides feedback on their written work, and guides them through the process of participating in an SCLD slam. The responsible adult communicates with the SCLD contact to arrange for their groups’ participation in slams and/or workshops.

All poets sign an agreement that their work is original and appropriate (no profanity, no sexually explicit content, no hate speech, etc.).

Students memorize their two poems and practice in front of an audience, usually in a classroom setting.

After students practice, teachers orchestrate their School Slam.

Each school/group provides an adult volunteer to act as a scorekeeper during the slams. This volunteer could be a teacher, PTO member, or parent—an adult associated with the group.

What the Library Provides

SCLD maintains a Resources List (below) about writing and performing poetry for teachers and students to view and read.

To help teachers with School Slams, SCLD provides scoring rubrics, tips for success, a guide with roles for all participants, and if needed, librarians to help judge or score School Slams.

SCLD hires and arranges for a professional poet to give a slam preparation workshop at participating schools or for homeschool groups, likely held at a library. These workshops are free for schools and homeschool groups.

SCLD plans the Regional and Grand Slam events, including hiring local poets to act as judges and adding the competing poets’ names and schools to the slam program.

For Regional and Grand Slams, SCLD provides official rules for the judges, scorekeepers, and the audience. SCLD also provides a spreadsheet and instructions for scorekeepers and briefs the adult volunteers on the scoring process.

At the slam events, SCLD checks in participating students and provides students with participation swag.

Rules & Scoring Overview

Performance Expectations

Poets may not perform a poem that was previously performed for Regional or Grand slams. School slams may have a poem from previous years, as those don’t have the same judging panel.

All poems must be the poet’s original work. Poets agree to not include profanity or explicit language in their poems.

Poets must have 2 poems ready to perform at each slam. Poets who progress to round 2 and do not have a second poem will be disqualified.

Each poem performed should be at least 60 seconds and a maximum of 3 minutes.

Poems should be memorized or mostly memorized.

A poet may read from notes but may not use props or costumes.

Group poems of up to four (4) poets are encouraged, but poets performing a group poem may not perform an individual poem for the same slam.

Scoring

Poems are judged equally for writing and performance with a maximum score of 10. Scores are calculated on a 10-point scale to 1/10 of a point (for example, 9.3).

Timing begins when a poet begins speaking.

Flustered poets may restart their poem once per slam if they call for a restart within the first 30 seconds of their poem. Judges will include the stumble and restart in their scoring, but no time penalty will be assessed.

If the poet is past 30 seconds while performing their poem, they are required to continue with no restarting of the clock.

There is a 10-second grace period for performances that are under or over time.

There is a half-point (0.5) penalty for every 10 seconds under 50 seconds or for every 10 seconds over 3 minutes, 10 seconds. For example, a poem that is 3 minutes and 20 seconds would be marked down a half (0.5) point, and a poem that is 40 seconds long would also be marked down a half (0.5) point.

The scorekeepers are typically representatives from the participating schools (school staff, PTO members, etc.). They record the scores from the judges as they are read aloud by the Master of Ceremonies (MC), compare results for accuracy, and announce the poet’s total score.

Scoring is entered into a spreadsheet for additional accuracy. Timekeepers and scorekeepers adjust scores for any timing penalties.

Ties are broken if they impact the ranking of the top seven (7) poets in round one, or the top three (3) poets in round two.

If a tie needs to be broken, the two dropped scores from the judges are factored into the score to determine ranking. However, the dropped scores will not be used in each poet’s final score or in each school/group score average.

Scoring Formulas

The Master of Ceremonies will call for score corrections after each round. Any audience member who wishes to report a scoring discrepancy must report it to the timekeeper within 5 minutes of that announcement.

Individual Scores

For each poet’s total score, the highest and lowest scores are dropped. The remaining three scores are added together, penalties are deducted, and the result is the final score. The maximum possible score is 30.

(SCORE 1 + SCORE 2 + SCORE 3) − PENALTIES = FINAL SCORE

School/Group Score

Schools/Groups must have at least two individually performing poets to compete for the trophy. The final scores of all poets for the school/group are added and divided by the number of poets.

Schools with fewer poets can still win if they perform well.

(FINAL SLAM SCORE POET 1 + FINAL SLAM SCORE POET 2 + and so on) ÷ NUMBER OF POETS = FINAL SCHOOL SCORE

Determining Prize Winners

The final slam scores for individual poets are ranked based on scores from both rounds. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd highest scores receive a prize.

FINAL SCORE FROM ROUND 1 + FINAL SCORE FROM ROUND 2 = FINAL SLAM SCORE

Slam Prizes

Monetary prizes for the first-, second-, and third-place winners of the Regional and Grand Slams may be provided through generous donations from the Friends of the Library and the Library Foundation of Spokane County.

Customary Slam Timeline

September–November

  • SCLD, schools, and homeschool groups connect to discuss participation.
  • Schools and homeschool groups inform SCLD of their commitment to participate.

Before January

  • Teachers introduce students to the concept of poetry slams (see the resource list).
  • Teachers choose whether they want a workshop for their students with a local poet hired by SCLD. (Note: All workshop dates should take place before the School Slam.)

January–Early March

  • Workshops with a local poet can take place during a class period or after school at the High School or at an SCLD library for homeschool groups.
  • Students should practice performing in front of classmates or others before the School Slam to gain experience.
  • Teachers plan and coordinate School Slams where students perform and are scored. SCLD provides official rule sheets, scoring rubrics, and a list of performing tips. Library employees can also take part as judges in the School Slams.
  • Teachers submit the names of their top scoring School Slam students, including two alternates, to SCLD for the Regional Slam.
  • SCLD sends out flyers promoting upcoming Regional Slams.

Late March

  • The Regional Slams are held with participating students.
  • At Regional Slams, students compete as individuals, and the collective scores for each school/group determine the winner of the school/group trophy.
  • The students with the top scores from each Regional Slam are invited to participate in the Grand Slam.

Late April–Early May

  • SCLD coordinates the Grand Slam, held at a venue in a central location.
  • Each participating school or group provides a teacher, PTO member, or parent (an adult associated with your group) to act as scorekeeper during the Grand Slam.
  • After the Grand Slam, librarians and teachers meet to discuss what went well, what could improve, and ideas for the next year.

Resource Lists

Videos

To encourage students to start writing, we recommend the following videos.

To get students excited about performing, consider using snippets from these videos of past slams. Each video has footage of an hour-long, local slam event. Teachers could focus on a few poets who have great stage presence or a nice turn of phrase—whatever would be most useful for the teacher and students.

Reading List

Opportunities to Perform in Spokane

YouTube Channels

Contact Us

Email questions about poetry slams and your interest in participating to learner@scld.org.

Poetry Slam Resources

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