Slam Season Overview
With the introduction of our season of programming, there are many ways to get involved based on your interests, comfort with competitive settings, and level of commitment. To support this, we’ve developed three different “Tracks” our season offers. Many of the tracks overlap, and you can choose to participate in all of them or attend them à la carte, whether that means competing, performing, workshopping, or kicking it in the audience.
Individual Slam Track
Also known as the “Indie Slam Track,” this is our series of preliminary events leading up to and during Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! for individual teen poets representing themselves and their work. The final five poets, determined at Finals following the festival, will represent Massachusetts at BNV this summer!
Team Slam Track
This track is for groups of teen poets, with four to six poets per team, representing a specific school, organization, or venue and coached by a trusted teaching artist from their community. The prelims and finals for the Team Slam Track take place during festival weekend. We encourage teams to attend Individual Prelim events to meet one another and build community.
Non-Competitive Track
This track features writing workshops, open mics, and community art-making events open to all youth, focused on helping them embrace their poetic voice at any experience level. These events are low-stakes environments where young folks can receive support and encouragement in their craft. They’re often integrated into larger events, like our prelim at BPL Teen Central, as well as the workshops, open mics, and multimedia expo planned for festival weekend!
Festival Season Schedule
Individual Slams
Our Individual Teen Slams are a series of qualifying events for a spot on the Mass Poetry’s Youth Slam team. The top five poets will represent our team and compete this summer at the international youth poetry slam festival Brave New Voices, occurring July 15-18 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California!
Understand that by competing in any of the prelims, your commitment potentially extends to performing at Finals on April 11th, competing at BNV from July 15-18th, and setting aside a day before and after BNV for travel. Travel for BNV will be covered and coordinated by Mass Poetry!
In order to compete, you must register for one of our three Preliminary Bouts. Event times and registration links below! The top four poets from each Prelim will advance to the Indie Finals Stage at Boston City Hall Pavilion!
The top five poets from Indie Finals will form our team. Once our poets are determined, they must regularly attend team practices from April until July. Crystal Valentine and Otto Vock will coach and coordinate team practices, and chaperone the team at BNV
Individual Teen Poetry Slam Breakdown Rules
- To compete in this competition, you must be a teen! (ages 13-19)
- Register and compete in one of three Preliminary Bouts
- Prelim #1 – BPL Teen Central Edition: February 28, 2026
- Prelim #2 – Just Book-ish Edition: March 12, 2026
- Prelim #3 – Teen Festival Edition: March 29, 2026
- The top 4 poets from each Preliminary Bout will go on to compete in the Individual Slam Finals on April 11, 2026 at the Civic Pavilion in City Hall Plaza (5 Congress St, Boston, MA 02203)
- During the Individual Slam Finals, poets will compete in two rounds of slam and the top 5 poets will form the Mass Poetry Brave New Voices Team
- The Mass Poetry team will meet weekly leading up to the Brave New Voices Festival and the team will have an all expense paid trip to Brave New Voices in San Francisco, California on July 15 – 19, 2026.
For more details about the Individual Slam Rules and Requirements, check out the Individual Slam Rules Page. You can also reach Mass Poetry Director of Programming, Crystal Valentine, at [email protected].
Individual Teen Slam # 1 – BPL Teen Central Edition
Date: February 28, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Slam Signups: 1:30 PM
Venue: Teen Central located in the Boston Public Library Central Branch
Address: 700 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
Join us for Preliminary Individual Slam #1! This event begins with two workshops one aimed for teens and the other for coaches and adults (12:00 pm 1:30 pm). After the workshops conclude, our Individual Prelim slam will begin at 2:00 pm. Check out this link for more details about the Slam timeline and qualifications.
If you are a teen poet (age 19 or under) that would like to slam and/or attend the workshop, register here.
If you are a teen (age 19 or under) who ONLY wants to attend the workshop and/or attend the prelim as an audience member, register here.
If you are an adult (age 20+) who wants to attend the adult coaches workshop and/or attend the prelim as an audience member, register here.
Individual Teen Slam #2: JustBook-ish Edition
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026
Time: 6:00 – 8:030 PM
Slam Signups: 5:30 PM
Venue: JustBook-ish
Address: 1463 Dorchester Ave, Dorchester, MA 02122
Join us at our Individual Teen Poetry Slam! Check out this link for more details about the Slam timeline and qualifications.If you are a teen poet that would like to slam, register here.
Individual Teen Poetry Slam #3: Teen Festival Edition
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2026
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Slam Signups: 11:00 AM
Venue: Lion’s Den located in Emerson College’s Walker Building
Address: 120 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
Join us at our Individual Teen Poetry Slam! This will be an extra special slam because it will take place during our Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! Teen Spoken Word Festival. Check out this link for more details about the Slam timeline and qualifications.If you are a teen poet that would like to slam, register here.
Team Slam
On Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, we will host a two-day Team Slam competition. Several preliminary bouts will take place throughout the early and later afternoon on March 28, with Finals held the following day.
The Team Slam is a one-time event with no qualifying rounds leading up to the Festival and no next steps beyond the competition. After the Finals on Sunday evening, we will announce the winning team. Winners of the team slam get bragging rights (team slam pride and reputation is no joke!) and a gorgeous trophy to mark their achievement and display at their school or organization.
Team Slam Registration
The deadline to register a Slam Team is Monday, March 9, 2026.
Registration is first come, first served and includes a $100 registration fee. If this fee is a barrier, please contact us. We can offer a reduced fee or waive the fee if needed.
Mass Poetry is offering a discounted hotel block with AC Hotel. Discounted rates are available until February 25, 2026. You can book the hotel block using this LINK. Teams that stay at the discounted hotel will have the $100 registration fee waived.If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mass Poetry Director of Programming, Crystal Valentine, at [email protected].
Team Slam Rules
To compete as a team, you just need 4-6 poets and 6 poems, including one group piece. That’s it! For more information and details on how our Team Slam is going to work and what you’re going to need, check out our Team Slam Rules.
First Breath: Team Slam Lead-Up Event
Next Breath’s Glow Up: Prelim #1 BPL Teen Central Edition
In past years, following the traditions of our predecessors like Louder Than A Bomb, we’ve held our “First Breath” event a couple weeks before the festival weekend. The goal with First Breath was to give competing teams a space to come together as a community and forge bonds as a unified movement of poets, looking to speak truth to power, make change, and cultivate play and connection along the way.
This year we’ve integrated the spirit of First Breath into our Prelim #1: BPL Teen Central Edition event leading up to the festival and expanded another community art making component into the festival itself. We’re also opening the door wider, where any young person (13 – 19) interested in getting involved in slam, not just registered teams, can attend these events and learn how to take part in our community. Prelim #1 will feature youth writing workshops, and one coach development workshop before we launch into the slam on February 28, 2026.
First Breath / Next Breath Multimedia Expo!
We’ve also reimagined our Artist Resources Fair from last year, evolving it into the First Breath / Next Breath Multimedia Expo! The event is scheduled to occur during the Teen Festival before the team prelim bouts on March 28, 2026. We’re inviting all youth attendees to float between several art making stations designed to explore poetry and experiment with incorporating other mediums of expression into their existing creative practice. Booths will span across genres and media including Dance, Graffiti Art, Fashion, Jewelry making, Music, Meditation, and more surprising mediums we can’t wait to share with the public! All stations will be run by leading teaching artists across New England. Our hope is to have our youth poets bond across teams through creating together, learning new skills and experimenting with expression. Most importantly we want our youth poets to know they can be more than one thing, and their voice as an artist is capable of blooming and making change across many mediums that speak to them! We’ll also have a station for audience sign making to cheer own the poets in their prelim like the true sporting event it is!
Pick-up Team Interest Form – I Need a Team!
If you’re a young poet interested in joining the team slams but are having trouble finding a crew to make it happen, you’re in the write place!
This year we are launching a method for individual youth to form pick-up teams independent of a school or venue. If you’re a young poet looking for a team to slam with, fill out the form linked below with a parent to be paired with like minded poets and a trusted adult teaching artist provided by Mass Poetry. That teaching artist will act as your team coach, and coordinate with the poets and their parents to prepare everyone to compete at the festival!