Word Travels and Australian Poetry Slam would like to officially congratulate Jesse Brand (NSW), our new Australian Poetry Slam Champion for 2013/14! Jesse took the title at the National Final at Sydney Opera House alongside a collection of finalists from every state and territory.

Coming in as runner-up was Martin Ingle from QLD and third place went to Abe Nouk from VIC. 

We want to thank all of the poets, heat and state final organisers and audiences around Australia who pulled together to make this year our best APS yet.

Check out Jesse's winning performance:

This year also marked the inaugural Word Travels Festival, which exploded the NSW and National Finals into a performing writers' festival that was three-days of live literary mayhem!

We brought Ursula Rucker over from the United States and launched slam champ Luka Lesson’s first book with a heap of other spoken word events.

Keep a look out for next year’s Word Travels Festival and we’ll see you in June for the start of Australian Slam season with dozens of heats around the country!

Are you ready for some Slam action?

Welcome to AUSTRALIAN POETRY SLAM - the largest spoken-word program in the Southern hemisphere.

Every year about 1000 writers perform their stuff for about 20,000 people across the country; from small towns to major cities, libraries to warehouse parties, Sydney Theatre to China to Bali.

How's it work?

Two performing writers from each region are chosen to represent their community in a State Final. The audience at the State Finals choose two powerful wordsmiths to head to the nationals in Sydney. National Final punters pick one Australian spoken-word artist to tour the Bookworm International Literary Festival in China and the Ubud Writers and Reader Festival in Bali.

Could you be Australia's next Slam Champion?

-CJ Bowerbird Australian Poetry Slam Champion 2012/13 - photo by Paris Spellson

This may sound like a huge deal for a poet from Queanbeyan, Alice Springs, Newcastle or Canberra but most importantly Australians are telling their stories, spitting their poetry, rolling out their rhymes and audiences are not just listening they're getting their notebooks out on the train ride home.

If you want to speak, scream, sing, rap, howl or whisper your words, click on the "Heats" page to find a slam near you.

Or take a seat and cheer your favourite poetry super heroes?

If you want to be in the cheering, raucous, finger-snapping, poetry loving audience you too can click on a heat or a Final.

Judges are chosen randomly from the live audience.

Click on the Heats page. More on the way!

Also check out the latest videos on YouTube Channel.

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