APRIL SLAM TOURNAMENT:
What’s in it for you?
Going to NPS: The National Poetry Slam is the largest performance poetry competition and festival in the world. Hundreds of the best performance poets from the U.S. and Canada converge on a different city each August to compete. Since 1998 the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam has been sending teams of poets to compete at NPS. However, because of the overwhelming proliferation of poetry slams over the past several years, it may not be possible for the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam to send a team to compete at every single National Poetry Slam. Regardless of weather or not the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam is competing in NPS the top three poets in our April finals will be considered that year’s slam team*.
Team Requirements:
1. Age Restriction: Due to the age restrictions in the various cities where NPS is held, and the liabilities incurred when transporting minors across state lines, a poet must be 18 years of age to participate on an NPS team. However, you need not be 18 to participate in our local slam tournament.
2. *Number of poets per team: In April of 2004 Poetry Slam Inc. changed the bout structure of the National Poetry Slam in order to accommodate more teams and more poets in the competition. There used to be four poets and one alternate per team. Now a team may have anywhere from 3-5 poets.
NOTE: Any poet(s) who places 4th or 5th and has never been on the Kalamazoo Slam Team before may join the Team at their own expense.
3. Teamwork: Once the team is chosen the real work begins. Basically, by making the team you’ve just signed up for a 10-13 week performance poetry workshop building up to four straight days of performance and celebration. The new team generally holds their first official practice one or two weeks after the finals are complete. Practices may include: writing and arranging multi-voice “group poems”, practicing and critiquing one another’s individual poems, and performing theatrical/vocal exercises, etc.
Going to iWPS:
In 2004 Poetry Slam Inc founded a new slam tournament for individual competitors, the individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) which takes place in a different city each February.
The top scoring poet on finals night will be considered eligible to compete in the iWPS at his or her own expense.
NOTE: If you are the top ranked poet and wish to attend both NPS and iWPS you may do so, but remember to check with the Slam Master to see if additional funding is available.
Prize Money $$$ :-)
1/2 the proceeds from Kzoo’s April slam tournament will be divided evenly among the top three poets and distributed as prize money on finals night. So don’t forget to invite all of your friends and family to see you perform in the tournament- the bigger the crowds- the bigger the prize $$.
NOTE: The top three poets in the April slam tournament are not required to use their prize money to fund their trip to NPS, nor do they have to participate on the slam team if they do not wish to do so. However, additional funding from the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam for travel expenses to NPS may not be available. We therefore strongly encourage each team member to be responsible and pool their resources.
TOURNAMENT RULES:
These are the rules for the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam semi-finals and finals. They have been taken directly from the National Poetry Slam Rule Book, so it’s a good idea to get to know them.
1) Poems can be on any subject and in any style.
2) Each poet must perform work that s/he has created.
3) No props. Prop: an object or article of clothing introduced into a performance with the effect of enhancing, illustrating, underscoring, or otherwise augmenting the words of the poem. Generally, poets are allowed to use their given environment and the accoutrements it offers - microphones, mic stands, the stage itself, chairs on stage, a table or bar top, the aisle - as long as these accoutrements are available to other competitors as well. The rule concerning props is not intended to squelch the spontaneity, unpredictability, or on-the-fly choreography that people love about the slam; its intent is to keep the focus on the words rather than objects.
4) No musical instruments or pre-recorded music. No costumes. Further clarification of this rule was considered, but rejected as being niggling and ultimately unnecessary. The rule stands as is: No costumes.
Sampling:
It is acceptable for a poet to incorporate, imitate, or otherwise "signify” on the words, lyrics, or tune of someone else (commonly called "sampling" in his own work. If he is only riffing off another's words, he should expect only healthy controversy; if on the other hand, he is ripping off their words, he should expect scornful contumely.
The Three-Minute Rule:
No performance should last longer than three minutes. The time begins when the performance begins, which may well be before the first utterance is made. A poet is certainly allowed several full seconds to adjust the microphone and get settled & ready, but as soon as s/he makes a connection with the audience ("Hey look, she's been standing there for 10 seconds and hasn't even moved"), the timekeeper can start the clock. The poet does not have an unlimited amount of "mime time." Poets with ambiguous beginnings & endings to their performances should seek out the timekeeper at each venue to settle on a starting & ending time. After three minutes, there is a 10-second grace period (up to and including 3:10.00). Starting at 3:10.01, a penalty is automatically deducted from each poet's overall score according to the following schedule:
3:10 and under no penalty
3:10.01 - 3:20 -0.5
3:20.01 - 3:30 -1.0
3:30.01 - 3:40 -1.5
3:40.01 - 3:50 -2.0
and so on [-0.5 for every 10 seconds over 3:10]
The announcement of the time penalty and its consequent deduction will be made by the emcee or scorekeeper after all the judges have reported their scores. The judges should not even be told that a poet went overtime until it is too late for them to adjust their scores.
Maximum Time Limit:
After four minutes, only the emcee may stop a poet from continuing to perform.
Judging:
All efforts shall be made to select five judges who will be fair. Once chosen, the judges will have a private, verbal crash course by the emcee or house manager on the do's and don'ts of poetry slam judging (where they can ask questions).
Scoring:
The judges will give each poem a score from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest or "perfect" score. They will be encouraged to use one decimal place in order to preclude the likelihood of a tie. Each poem will get five scores. The high and the low scores will be dropped and the remaining three scores will be added together.
Emcees:
The emcee will announce to the audience each poet's name. She will also require that all judges hold their scores up at the same time and that no judge changes his score after it is up. She is expected to move the show along quickly and keep the audience engaged and interested in the competition. Since she must be completely impartial, any witty banter directed at individual poets, poems, teams, or scores is inappropriate. Even genuine enthusiasm has to be carefully directed. The safest thing to do is encourage the audience to express their own opinions.
Sacrificial Poet:
Because no poet wants to go first in the slam, and because some judges, score keepers and time keepers need practice, each slam begins with a “sacrificial poet”. This poet performs a piece and is scored as if they were competing in the slam.
SPECIAL KALAMAZOO RULES:
Now that you are familiar with the general slam rules and format, here are a few rules that are specific to the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam Tournament.
Attendance
In order to get on the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam Team you must participate in each and every slam during the month of April, that’s every single Tuesday. Usually there are four Tuesdays in April, however if April 1st happens to fall on a Tuesday then there are five (2008, 2013). If you miss one of the semi-final rounds due to illness, injury or some other unforeseen emergency (couldn’t get the night off work doesn’t count) then you will have two points deducted from your cumulative semi-final’s score and may make up the performance you missed by performing the sacrificial poem the next week. If you miss more than one semi-final round or if you miss the finals, you’re SOL.
Scores
There will be one round of slam at each semi-final, which means you will perform one poem per week and you will be scored by a different set of judges each time you perform. The scores for the semi-finals are cumulative. That means the score you get for your performance in round one is added to the score from round two and so on. At the end of semi-finals the top 8 poets advance to the finals. Finals night is “clean slate” meaning each poet starts over at zero and the score you’ve accumulated during the semi-finals no longer counts. There are two rounds of slam in the finals (that means you have to do two poems).
NO Repeat Rule.
You may not repeat any poems during the semi-finals, or finals. That means you need at least five original poems in order to make the team.
VETERAN RULE:
This rule applies to poets who want to be on the Kalamazoo Slam Team two or more years in a row.
New Poem Rule- If you were on the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam Team last year, then you must perform one new poem during the tournament, either during the semi-finals or the finals. A “new poem” is a poem that was not prepared for competition at NPS the previous year.
SO YOU’VE MADE THE TEAM:
Each team member is expected to:
1. Attend a team practice once a week. Practices generally last 3-4 hours. Failure to attend three practices may result in your removal from the team.
2. Communicate and attempt to get along with your fellow team members. It is important to make sure you have contact information, phone #’s and email etc. for all of your fellow team members.
3. Make time to perform with the team when possible. We try to schedule mini-road trips for the team to perform in other venues, and hopefully raise money to cover expenses.
Attending The National Poetry Slam:
While at Nationals have a great time, but don’t overdo it. . . at least not until the team has been eliminated from the competition. Remember that you are part of a team and that you are there to represent the Kalamazoo slam community. Any member of the team who is found to be in violation of the NPS Code of Honor, who cannot perform due to excessive partying, who gets arrested or makes a general ass of themselves may be barred from participating on future Kalamazoo Poetry Slam Teams. It hasn’t happened yet, so don’t be the first.
FUNDS AND FUND RAISING:
In addition to the April prize money, the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam lets the team guest host the last poetry slam before they depart for NPS. Team Kzoo gets to keep all the proceeds from that show.
Throughout the year the Kalamazoo Poetry Slam acts as talent agent for poets seeking to make a little extra money from their art. We put together performance troops to give exhibitions of slam and performance poetry for schools and civic events throughout West Michigan. Poets who prove their dedication and skill by competing on an NPS team or as an individual at the IWPS may be invited to perform at these various paid gigs.