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If you would like to help fund these worthy programs, please see Sponsorships or Join Friends of Get Lit! and designate your donation be applied to Get Lit!'s Children and Youth Events.
Get Lit! Young Writer's Program
Get Lit!'s Young Writers Program’s mission is to fuel the dreams of our region’s youngest writers...MORE
Get Lit! Youth and Teen Poetry Slams
Teams are slated into slam schedules on a first-come-first-served basis the day of the event.
Poetry Slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. It puts a dual emphasis on writing and performing, encouraging poets to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it. A poetry slam is a spoken word poetry event in which poets perform their work and are judged, both for content and delivery, by audience members who volunteer for this role.
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Youth Poetry Slam
Kress Gallery at River Park Square
(The Kress Gallery is located on the 3rd floor of River Park Square in downtown Spokane. Street address: 808 W. Main Avenue.)
5:30 PM, Thursday, April 12, 2007
Entry Fee: $2 per student, plus a can of food for the Spokane Valley Food Bank. Register on-site 30-45 minutes before your event.
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Teams must consist of at least two people.
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Teams must be named.
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An adult must accompany each team.
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Students do not need to be from the same school to be on the same team.
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An adult must accompany each solo poet.
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Limit of 20 solo poets or teams
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If you want to participate with a teammate, but do not have one, please contact your teacher, or Nicholas Arnold (623-4227) prior to the event to arrange for matching.
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| Youth entrants competing at the 2006 Poetry Slam |
The first place Youth team or solo poet will perform at the Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert on Saturday, April 14, at 1pm. They will also receive $50 and a Get Lit! T-shirt for each team member. The second place team or poet will receive gift certificates to local businesses as well as Get Lit! t-shirts. Third place winners receive Get Lit! t-shirts. |
2006 Youth Poetry Slam winners performing at the Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert |
Teen Poetry Slam
Empyrean Cafe
(Empyrean Cafe is located at 154 S. Madison in downtown Spokane, just south of the railroad tracks and between 1st and 2nd Avenues.)
6:30 PM, Wednesday, April 18, 2007
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Teen poets are ages 13-19.
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Teens can participate as solo poets or in teams.
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Solo poets cannot compete as part of a team, and vice versa.
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Limit of 20 solo poets or teams.
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Please arrive 45 minutes prior to competition to sign up and guarantee participation.
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The first place Teen team or solo poet will perform at the Get Lit! Evening of Poetry on Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 PM at the Bing Crosby Theatre (formerly the Met). They will also receive $50 cash and a Get Lit! T-shirt for each team member. Prizes for second and third place will include gift certificates to local businesses and Get Lit! t-shirts. |
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Rules |
| Length: |
Performances cannot be longer than three minutes. There is an allotted 10 second grace period. Half a point will be deducted for every ten seconds past the grace period. |
| The Poetry : |
Original work only! We want to hear what YOU have to say. All poems must be written by a member or members of a team. School appropriate material only. |
| The Performance: |
Memorization: Team members are encouraged to memorize their work, but it is not necessary. Judges tend to reward memorized performances.
Music and Theatrics: All sounds must be made by the performers. Beat boxing is encouraged and some lines can be sung, but the work must include spoken lines. No musical instruments, props, or costumes are allowed. The team or poet who does use a prop will have points deducted from their score.
Audience: No booing the team or solo poets. Loud cheering is expected and highly encouraged! And remember, poets, playing up to the audience might be helpful.
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Structure |
| Poets: |
Poetry slams last three rounds. Each team or solo poet performs one poem per round (team members may perform alone, all members may perform together, or any combination of team members may perform together.) The third and final round will include at least four teams or poets. |
| Judges: |
Five judges will be randomly chosen from the audience. Performances will be rated at 50% content and 50% performance, on a scale of 0-10 (10 being the highest). The highest and lowest scores will be dropped from each performance, leaving a poet or team with a score between 0 and 30. Performance and confidence go a long way, so be sure to practice. The judges will try not to be influenced by the audience. The audience will try to influence the judges and is encouraged to do so. Cheering, jeering and booing the judges is more than acceptable. |
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Graduate students in EWU's Creative Writing program will conduct Poetry Slam Workshops in area schools in the months leading up to the competition to help teams prepare. Teachers may schedule workshops by contacting EWU's Writers in the Community program.
For more information, including poetry slam rules, contact Nicholas Arnold, director of the Writers in the Community program at WITC@mail.ewu.edu or 623-4227.
Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert
Date, time and location to be announced
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| Jack Prelutsky returned to entertain children and adults at his second Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert performance in 2006. |
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It's a tradition families look forward to: Each year, Get Lit! delights kids and their parents with its children's literary programs. Past presenters at Get Lit! children's programs, which began in 1999, the festival's second year, include Sarah Conover, with her collections of traditional spiritual tales, young adult author Chris Crutcher, Adventures of Riley author Amanda Lumry, best-selling Canadian author Robert Munsch, funny children's poet Kenn Nesbitt, and children's humorous poet and musician Jack Prelutsky, as well as other talented and famed children's authors.
Drawing on the legacy of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, since 1993 Spokane Public Radio has sponsored a variety of free KPBX Kid's Concerts in venues as diverse as the Clocktower Meadow in Riverfront Park and the Met Performing Arts Center. The station schedules approximately ten concerts each year featuring music and dance, and in 2003 teamed up with Get Lit! to highlight children's literature in their April concert.
Details about the April 2007 Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert will be announced as soon as they are available. Please check back for updates.
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| Robert Munsch performing at the 2005 Get Lit! KPBX Kids' Concert |
Attention High School Students:
Check out Get Lit! writing workshops and panels on
Saturday, April 21st from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attending the panels is free, and high school students qualify for the
student discount for workshop registrations.
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