RULES of the slam
Eligibility
Poems and Performance
Judging and Scoring
Structure of the Slam
Poets who are interested in competing MUST REGISTER HERE.
- Poets competing in the slam must be age 13-19. Exceptions: If poets are currently 12, but will be age 13 by July 16, 2012, they may compete in the slam. If a poet is currently 19, but will be age 20 by July 16, 2012, they are not eligible for the slam.
- Poets must register to compete in the slam by 11:59pm on Sunday, April 1, 2012.
- Poets must live in Los Angeles County or Orange County, but they do not need to be residents of Long Beach.
- Poets do NOT need to have participated in the ¡DUENDE! poetry workshops prior to registering for the slam.
- Poets must have at least three poems no longer than THREE minutes to compete.
Poems and Performance
- Poems can be on any subject and style. Exceptions: Poems that describe the poet's intent to harm their own self or others and/or promote discrimination of any group based on sex, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or ability will not be permitted.
- Each poet must perform original works.
- No costumes, props, or musical instruments or accompaniment allowed. A 1 point penalty will be placed on each violation of this rule.
- Poems must be performed by a single poet. No multiple-person performances allowed.
- Poems should not be longer than THREE minutes. Time begins when the first indication of performance is made, whether or not the poet has already spoken. Poets will have a time of three minutes allotted to each piece and an additional 10 second grace period. For every ten seconds a poet goes over this time, a .5 point penalty will be deducted from their score. If a poet needs to start their poem over, the clock will not be restarted.
Judging and Scoring
- There will be FIVE judges selected for the event.
- Judges will be pre-selected before the event. All judges will receive a printed copy of the rules of the slam in advance.
- Judges will not and should not have a personal relationship with any of the participants in the slam. Violation of this rule will lead to disqualification of the poet and the judge from the slam.
- Judges will score each poem on a scale of 0-10, with 5 points for writing and 5 points for scoring. The highest and lowest score for each poem will be dropped, for a perfect score of 30 that can be achieved by each poet.
Structure of the Slam
- The slam will be three rounds.
- Round A will include all 12 participants. Participants will randomly draw their round order from a hat before the slam.
- Round B will include the top 10 scoring poets from Round A. Poets will perform from highest score to lowest.
- Round C will include the top 8 scoring poets from Round B. Poets will perform in reverse order from the previous round.
- Each poet's score will be calibrated after they perform, but they will not be announced until after each round has been complete.
- After Round C, the top 8 poets cumulative scores will be calibrated.
- Poems may not be repeated in subsequent rounds, meaning all poets must come prepared with a minimum of THREE pieces.
- The top 6 highest scoring poets in the slam will receive a spot on the 2012 Long Beach Youth Slam Team.
- In cases of score ties in Rounds A and B, the highest scoring poets will still move on.
- In cases of score ties in Round C, only if there is a tie for 6th place will those tied poets enter into a sudden death round - performing again to secure the 6th spot. Repeating poems will be allowed.
Poets who are interested in competing MUST REGISTER HERE.