General:
• Poets must have at least three original, competition ready poems.
• Props or costumes are not permitted.
Transcripts are permitted on stage, given the fact they are not used a
Time:
• Poems are limited to three minutes.
• Your cumulative score will be deducted one point for every 30 seconds of overage.
Judging:
• The judges are 5 randomly selected audience members that, ideally, do not know the competitors.
• After each poet presents judges quickly and subjectively score the poem on a sale of 0.0-10.0, usually based on resonance.
• Highest and lowest scores are dropped.
• The remaining three scores are added and time penalties are deducted, giving a total score for the individual poem ranging from 0.0-30.0
Rounds:
• For the first round, all poets present in a randomly selected order.
• Typically there are two final rounds. Elimination structure is a dynamic decision based on how many poets are presenting and time constraints of the slam.
