SLAM POETRY GUIDELINES
- The monthly slam is open to everyone 16 years or older unless the slam is designated as a slam for a particular demographic (For example; the Women of the World Poetry Slam Qualifier which is for women only). You must be 18+ to slam towards an invitation to Grand Slam Finals for an opportunity to make the Bull City Slam Team.
- Jambalaya Soul Slam is held at the Hayti Heritage Center, Durham, NC (www.hayti.org) located at 804 Old Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27701. *Occasionally slams are held at an alternate location (always check the website for details).
- Slams are FREE for participating poets. 12 slots are available for participating poets.
- Slams are open to the public, have an open sign up, and are not censored. The sign up list opens at 7:30pm and stays open until 8:00pm or until the list reaches 12 poets. *For the February Erotic Poetry Slam the list opens at 11:30pm.
- The poets will draw numbers to determine the order of the first round. In the 2nd and 3rd round, the poet with the highest score will perform first and the round will end with the poet with the lowest score. *For Finals, if an invited poet is running late and misses the bout draw then their number will be drawn for them. If they miss their slot, then they will be disqualified from the competition.
- The competition will be a 3 round slam with elimination each round. The 1st and 2nd and 3rd round scores are cumulative. The highest scoring poet wins.
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- Prize money is awarded to the winner. The amount of each cash prize will be decided at the beginning of each season and will stay the same for the full season.
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Special Slams
Haiku Slam
The Haiku Slam is a head to had competition with at least 8 competitors. The basic match-up is best-of-5 rounds of haiku for the first round, best-of-5 rounds for semifinals, and best-of-7 for the finals. So at a maximum, a person would need 17 haiku. It is recommended to bring 20 to 25, so you can pick out your best. If there are more than 8 people, then the first round becomes best-of-3.
In the early 1990s, a poet from the Illinois poetry slam scene named Daniel Ferri created the Haiku Death Match. The slam-style haiku, also known as “ku,” is just a 17 (or less) syllables poem and contains no title. In the Haiku Death Match poets battle one-on-one until only one poet remains, and that poet is crowned the winner!
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Lyric Slam
We will take up to 12 participants in this slam. We will have 3 rounds of competition so participants need to have 3 songs ready. Participants can read the lyrics if they need to. After the first and second round we will cut participants based on score. The competition will be judged slam style (by members of the audience on a scale of 0 to 10).
Participants must perform the lyrics to a song. They can't perform it as it was originally performed (sung or rapped). They can't say the title before they perform. Participants are only required to perform at least 2 verses and the hook. Intros and bridges are optional. Each participant gets 3 min to perform. The DJ will cut them off at 3 min.
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Women's Poetry Slam
This is our annual event dedicated to women's voices and stories. It is open to anyone who identifies as a woman. This is a regular format slam.
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Paper Thin Poetry Slam
All participants MUST READ FROM PAPER for this slam. They can read from printed paper or a journal. No phones. No memorized poems. This is especially for new works or works in progress!
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Bull City Slam Team Selection Process
- The Bull City Slam Team is for poets who reside in Durham, The Triangle or in North Carolina. To qualify for finals the poet must both be a current resident and have resided in North Carolina for at least six months.
- Poets become eligible for the Bull City Slam team by competing in the Jambalaya Soul Slam throughout the year. We typically begin in August and the final team is selected in April of the following year.
- Grand Slam Finals, held each April, is open to the top invited poets from the season. 12 poets will be invited. Those poets will be notified of their invitation and given time to accept or refuse. It is up to the slam coordinators if any poets outside of the top 12 will be invited to fill any unaccepted slots.
- The top 4 poets at Grand Slam Finals will make the team. The top scoring poet at Grand Slam Finals will be the Grand Slam Champion for that year. *In any year, a 5th poet may be added to the team. That will depend on availability of resources. That determination will be made before Grand Slam finals and announced to the participating poets.
Code of Conduct
This code is a set of rules that slam participants and members of the team must follow. This serves as a clear statement of what is expected. The goal is to create and maintain a welcoming and brave environment.
Harassment in any form, including bullying, threatening, stalking, intimidation, microaggressions, insinuations or disparaging comments that are hurtful or interfere with any other attendee’s experience is unacceptable.
Sexual harassment, including but not limited to, unwanted or inappropriate conduct, unwanted sexual attention, comments, jokes, or advances is unacceptable.
Violence, threats of violence, or violent language directed against another person involved with slam programing is unacceptable.
Boisterous, lewd or offensive behavior or language that disrupt the event, a workshop, or other formal or event activity in any way is unacceptable.
We believe our community should be truly open for everyone. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, or religion.
If you see someone behaving disrespectfully and feel safe and comfortable doing so, you are encouraged to discourage them from such behavior respectfully. If you do not feel safe, comfortable, or otherwise able to respond and resolve it respectfully, please immediately bring it to the attention of the host or coordinator of the slam. We want to hear from you about anything you feel is disrespectful, threatening, or alarming. We will listen and work to resolve the matter.
By attending the Jambalaya Soul Slam, you are agreeing to abide by this code of conduct.
Organizers will enforce this code throughout an event and won't hesitate to remove anyone who is not conforming to the code without the option for a refund or compensation. Anyone who is not confirming to the code on the team will be removed from the team and denied participation an any future slam team activities without slam leadership approval.
If you are planning to participate in any slam programming, whether in-person or virtually and have concerns regarding another individual who may be present, please contact us at jambalayasoulslam@gmail.com.
The Code of Conduct may be revised at any time by the leadership of the slam program.
Incident Process
(for slam program participants, not attendees)
The Jambalaya Soul Slam/Slam Academy/Bull City Slam Team believes in restorative practice. When an incident with someone within the slam program (host, coordinator, administrator, coach, team members, facilitator) has occurred, the slam program leadership team will move forward with restorative practices. A consultant from the community will be engaged to lead restorative practice efforts.
Through restorative practices, members of our slam community will:
1. Have an opportunity to be heard
2. Understand the greater impact of one's actions
3. Learn to take responsibility
4. Repair the harm one's actions may have caused
5. Recognize one's role in maintaining a safe slam environment
6. Recognize one's role as a positive contributing member of our slam community.
Restorative Practices are a collection of actions that aim to build, maintain, and when necessary, repair relationships.
A Restorative Process is the agreed way forward which best meets the needs of the participants. A
process can vary in the degree of formality, this includes direct, indirect, formal and informal ways of
working.
The process begins when an incident, that alleges possible violations of the Code of Conduct, is reported to a member of the slam program leadership team (founder, host, coordinator, coach).
Incidents may be reported by a poet, a member of the slam team, a leadership team member, a visitor/guest to the slam, or by a member of the local community.
Upon receipt of the report, a member of the leadership team will contact the subject of the report to set up a meeting.
At the meeting, the subject will be presented with information about the report. They will have an opportunity to discuss the report and respond.
At this meeting, next steps will be discussed.
If there is an opportunity for the parties involved to reach an agreement informally, then that will be respected. Both parties will have to agree for that to take place. If not, then the slam leadership team will move forward with restorative practice.
Anyone who is the subject of an incident report that chooses not to participate in restorative practice will not be allowed to participate in the slam, slam academy, or slam team.
“The fundamental hypothesis of restorative practices is that human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.”
- International Institute for Restorative Practices