Ybor City Poetry Slam

• 3-round competition

• No props allowed (Books or devices to read from ARE ALLOWED unless your poem references the said device/book you’re using)

• 5 Judges will be scoring each performance on a scale of 0.0 - 10.0 using decimal points. The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the 3 middle scores are added together to determine the poets score for the round (0-30)

• The Judges will be chosen out of the audience on the criteria that they do not know any of the poets. There will be a good faith attempt to get unbiased and diverse judges

• There is a time limit of 3 minutes per poem, with a 10-second grace period (3:10). 0.5 points are deducted for every 10 seconds you go over time starting at 3:11. (therefore once you hit 3:11 you receive a 0.5 penalty to your round score)

• Maximum number of slammers is 10

• Eliminations occur between each round after the first

• Round 2 eliminates the four lowest-scoring poets of round 1

• Round 3 eliminates the three lowest-scoring poets of round 2

• 1st Round order is determined by random number draw

• 2nd Round order is determined by the highest to lowest scoring poet from round 1

• Final 3 poets for round 3 are determined by adding the poet’s scores from rounds 1 & 2 accumulatively.

• Round 3 order is determined by the highest to a lowest cumulative score

• The winner of the final round is determined by the highest-scoring poem of that round alone or “Clean Slate”

• In the case of a tie, we will then determine the winner by adding the poet’s scores from all 3 Rounds together accumulatively

• If there is still a tie after adding the cumulative scores, the poets must face off in a head-to-head (One more poem each), in which the judges will select the name of the poet they feel should win, rather than giving a score

• Each qualifier slam costs $10 to enter, the winner of the slam gets the pot ($100) plus whatever sponsors are able to add

The 2023 Slam Season will be used to form the GrowHouse Slam Team that will compete at the largest regional poetry festival/team competition, Southern Fried Poetry Slam in June 2024 (SoFried is held in a different city or state each year, next year we have the benefit of it coming to Florida and will be held in Pompano Beach!)

Making the Team

• Every month, GrowHouse will host a poetry slam open to all poets. ($10 entry fee)

• Poet’s final score from each round will be totaled across each slam they compete in within the season

• There will be two separate Grand Slams (June & November)

• Top 10 scoring Poets throughout the season will determine who competes in the Grand Slam

• The top 3 poets in the June Grand Slam will determine the first 3 members of the team

• The top 3 poets from the November Grand Slam will determine the last 2 team members and 1 alternate spot (the alternate poet is still treated as a team member but will only compete at Southern Fried in the event that one of the other teammates has to pull out)

DISCLAIMER!

Being on the team is a time commitment and potentially a financial commitment. By joining the team you are expected to attend practices once a week starting at the beginning of 2024. GrowHouse will cover registration fees for the team to compete, however travel & housing accommodations will be a group fundraising effort between the team and GrowHouse. If all funds are not raised through fundraising efforts, you are making a commitment to cover any remaining portions split evenly amongst the team.