Australian Poetry Slam

It’s that time of year again, Gold Coast Heat for the Australian Poetry Slam.

Here are the rules:

Maximum of 20 contestants per heat, first in best dressed.
Registration for live events may be taken in advance or at the door 30 minutes prior to event start time.
Writers perform in the slam heat closest to their place of residence.
Random draw for performance order.
ABSOLUTE two minute limit. Time starts at your first word or when the timekeeper feels your performance has begun (no additional time for introductions). Points will be deducted from the final score for exceeding the time limit — one point for going over time and an extra point every 30 seconds beyond that. For example: At 2:01 minutes you will lose a point. At 2:31 minutes you will lose another point.
Five judges chosen by the host at random from the audience.
Judges hold up score cards using a 1 – 10 scale to one decimal place, with 10 being the highest. Of the five scores for each poet, only the middle three scores are counted.
Poems must be the original work of the performer.
No musical accompaniment. No props. No costumes. Personal poem transcripts permitted.
The performer(s) with the highest scores in each heat will proceed to their State, Territory or Regional Final.
Staff and volunteers of Word Travels, Australian Poetry Slam and venues that are hosting heats may not compete.
Writers must perform a new piece at each progressive level/round starting from heats, to State/Territory Finals, to the National Final.
2021 works can not have been performed in an Australian Poetry Slam event in a previous year.

Our feature for the night will be the Spellbinding Huda. Huda the goddess is a spoken word poet, educator, mental health advocate, dancer and workshop facilitator. She is the winner of the 2020 poetry slam competition and Australian poetry competition runner up. she describes poetry as one of her sense that has allowed her to turn her trauma into art.

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