The most popular and the most well-known competitive poetry contests for teens is slam poetry, which dates back as far as the early 1980s but gained popularity in the early 1990s with the rise of the influence of hip hop culture. Contestants read their own poetry and are judged on a number scale of 1 to 10. Slam poetry has a reputation for its controversial subject matter dealing with issues such as politics, sexual orientation and gender, as well as racial, social, gender and economic inequalities. No props or costumes are allowed and poems should be kept under 3 minutes.
Poetry Slam Inc. offers contests for teams in their National Poetry Slam contest, and individual contest opportunities in their Individual World Poetry Slam and Women of the World Poetry Slam contests.
Poetry Slam Inc.
Business Office
11462 East Lane
Whitmore Lake, MI 48189
810-231-5435
poetryslam.com
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, this contest concentrates on youth and teen oral presentation, recitation and performance. Poetry Out Loud is influenced heavily from hip hop music. The mission of Poetry Out Load is to get teens involved in learning about poetry through their Poetry Out Loud Anthology. Their poetry contests are judged on
memorization and performance. Only poems from their Anthology are allowed to be entered into the competition.
Poetry Out Loud operates in a pyramid structure, with competition that begins in classrooms, then moves on to school-wide, state and national levels. State competition contacts can be found on the official Poetry Out Loud website.
Poetry Out Loud
poetryoutloud.org
The goal of the Young American Poetry Digest Contest, sponsored by the National Schools Project, is to provide a showcase for students to publish their own poetry. High school and middle school students are eligible to submit their own poetry for their annually published journal, which is distributed in all 50 states. Poems are organized by subject matter and age level.
Young American Poetry Digest Contest
National Schools Project
ERC, PMB 101
582 East Boise Avenue
Boise, ID 83706
208-363-9173
youngpoets.com