Spoken Word Press Programs and Events

Say Word High School Poetry Slam 2011

You're invited to Say Word! the Orange County Poetry Slam competition. If you enjoy seeing teens shine, this is a must-see show.

Come prepared to be moved on Wednesday, May 11th from 6 - 9 pm in Edgewater High School's performing Arts Center. Survive the battle, but be forever changed. Witness the power of the word.. [ + / - ]

Say Word HS Poetry SlamTeens write. Teens speak. Teens compete. Witness the power of their spoken words. Come watch top student poets from Orange County High Schools take the stage for the 3rd annual district poetry slam, Say Word! Poetry Slam. What is a poetry slam? Slam is a spoken word competition where student poets perform original work to compete for top scores from randomly selected judges. Say Word! is a three round elimination style poetry slam. We will start with 14 poets and whittle down to 5 for the final round.

Students from Cypress Creek, Dr. Phillips, Edgewater, Evans, Jones, Lake Nona, Timbercreek, Acceleration Academy and Winter Park High schools are sending their top 2 poets, as determined by school-based poetry slams, to compete for the title of the Say Word Champ!

Heard ‘Em Say Teen Poetry Night’s-4 Year Anniversary Show and Poetry Slam

The Reciprocity Law Group, in conjunction with The Spoken Word Press, is pleased to present Heard ‘Em Say Teen Poetry Night’s-4 Year Anniversary Show and Poetry Slam on Friday, May 27, 2011 at The University of South Florida-Gibbons Alumni Center, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Please join us as we celebrate 4 years of youth poetry with a live DJ, Food, and an epic showcase of dynamic teen spoken word artists from: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Miami.. [ + / - ]
Many of the teens slated to appear have been featured in HBO’s documentary on youth in America. Several of them have competed and placed in competitions all over the U.S.!

Doors open at 7:00pm and the show commences at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 for students and $20 for adults. Funds generated from this event will be used to help send local area teens to the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival in San Francisco, CA this July. Also, CD’s from the featured poets will be available for purchase.

For more information or advance ticket purchases, please contact Walter “Wally B.” Jennings at (813) 833-4186 or wallybclark@hotmail.com

Louder Than A Bomb

Louder Than A Bomb is a film that is coming to the Florida Film Festival. Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel it’s about High School Students from Chicago who are spoken word artists/poets. Trailer and description are below and more info can be found on their website louderthanabombfilm.com

The film first premiered at the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won both the Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for best film and the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition.. [ + / - ]

It's played several festivals since then and is now coming to the Florida Film Festival, where it will screen:

Saturday, April 9 at 12:30pm at Regal of Winter Park Village
and
Tuesday, April 12th at 9:15pm at The Enzian Theater

Louder Than a Bomb is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young, and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice. It also just happens to be about poetry. Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world’s largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as “Louder Than a Bomb”. Founded in 2001, Louder Than a Bomb is the only event of its kind in the country—a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams. Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of Louder Than a Bomb demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support. For many kids, being a part of such an environment—in an academic context—is life-changing.

LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is not “high school poetry” as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it—and the community they create along the way—is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.

More info on the Florida Film Festival coming to Orlando in April: floridafilmfestival.com

Brave New Voices 2010

This year Brave New Voices will be in Los Angeles, CA from July 19 - 25. Brave New Voices is a monumental festival that features teen poetry slam champions from cities, rural, and suburban areas from all over the world. Convening the top young poets and spoken word artists, aged 13-19, from across the United States to a one-of-a-kind festival that truly engages everyone involved. [ + / - ]
This year, the six-day festival will be held in Los Angeles and Orlando's own Team Rock It will be in attendance for the 1st time in its' 12 year history.

Recently produced as a seven part series; one part Def Poetry Jam and two-parts documentary, HBO's Brave New Voices is a docu-series that features the finest young spoken word artists in the country.

These young poets represent a growing national movement featuring thousands of teenagers writing and performing spoken word as a way to have voice in their communities. These are the Brave New Voices and the organizations that support them.

To get more information on the Brave New Voices Festival please visit: www.bravenewvoices.org or contact the Spoken Word Press .

OHCS Poetry Slam 2010

The 2010 O.C.H.S. Poetry Slam Jam (coming May 16, 2010) is a chance for students across Orange County to come together to spit some of the craziest spine tangling poetry you would ever want to hear while competing for the title of the 2010 Slam Jam Champion. The poets are judged over three rounds based on their performance, content, wit and presentation. [ + / - ]

How to qualify : Every school listed below will host a poetry workshop and slam during the month of April in recognition of National Poetry Month. The top two winners of each high school poetry slam gain automatic entry to compete against the rest of the high school winners across Orange County for the title of Slam Jam Champion and lots of cash and prizes.

This is your home for everything Slam Jam 2010! Please check back as much as you can for information about your school's poetry slam, freebees and updates.

When: May 15, 2010
Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel - Downtown Orlando
Time: 5pm

 

NEWS Teen Open Mic

The N.E.W.S. Teen Open Mic is the first of its kind here in Orlando, FL. An event catered to teen poets, lyricists, creative writers, spoken word artists and everyone in between every Sunday at 5 o'clock at one of four select locations across our great city. Everyone is welcome here. Teachers: give some extra credit to the students coming to show their creative side. Parents: this is a great place for your teen to write and vent about how unfair the world really is. So that's an open mic on the North side of town, the East side of town, the West side of town and the South side of town once a wek every week if you have a voicewe have a micand the mic is open. [ + / - ]

Locations are as follows:

Every 1st Sunday – North Location
KOHA (Keeping Our History Alive) 426 E. Kennedy Blvd Eatonville, FL 32751 Map

Every 2nd Sunday – West Location
Orlando School of Cultural Dance 412 N. Pine Hills Road ste B Orlando, FL 32811Map

Every 3rd Sunday - East Location
Mark's Caribbean Cuisine – East Location 10034 University Blvd Orlando, FL 32817Map

Every 4 th Sunday - South Location
Johnson's Diner 595 W. Church Street Orlando, FL 32805Map

"Team Rock-It" Youth Poetry Slam/Open Mic

Teens from across Orlando competed to secure a spot on the Team Rock-It youth slam team (traveling to Los Angela, California for the Brave New Voices National Youth Competition) [ + / - ]
On Sunday, April 11th, students from across Orlando came out to the Dr. James R. Smith Center to compete for a spot on our team for the Brave New Voices National Youth Competition.

This year Brave New Voices will be in Los Angeles, CA from July 19 - 25. Brave New Voices is a monumental festival that features teen poetry slam champions from cities, rural, and suburban areas from all over the world. Convening the top young poets and spoken word artists, aged 13-19, from across the United States to a one-of-a-kind festival that truly engages everyone involved. This year, the six-day festival will be held in Los Angeles and Orlando's own Team Rock It will be in attendance for the 1st time in its' 12 year history.

More Info on the selected members coming soon.

OCHS Poetry Slam Jam (2009)

The 2009 Orange County High School Poetry Slam Jam was the 1st of its kind in Orlando, FL. A total of six high schools sent their top two poets to compete in three rounds of the most mind stimulating, spine tingling poetry this city has ever experienced and $400.00 in cash and prizes. The poets put their hearts on the stage for an audience of their peers and members of the community; and although there was only one official winner, everyone left as a winner that night! From the poets who reached new heights with their performance and deliveries to the audience that never know spoken word could be so good! [ + / - ]

Participating schools:

Dr. Phillips

Jones

Timber Creek
Evans Oak Ridge University
Ocoee

Participating students:

Duresny N. Khyler Young Leslie Joseph
Grace Willis Ricky Luong Kim Saintilus
Shelby Birch Xavier Serrano Eryn Modica
Jazmine Potts Ketia Joseph Joseph K.

and the winner is…. Shelby Birch from Dr. Phillips High School …taking home the title of Slam Jam Champion and over $150.00 in cash and prizes! Don't even think about missing the 2010 Orange County High School Poetry Slam Jam…they'll be talking about it all year.