This is a fresh call out to all street & beat spoken word maestros, hip hop freestylers, haiku writers and performance poets. We want to give you two minutes & a mike and let you rip up the stage with fresh verses & tight rhymes that will set the Woodford night on fire!!!!

The WordFood Slam is back on the festival menu once more following a dramatic draw between Carla Henderson (QLD) & Jacinta (ACT) last year. This is a chance once again for all hot word chefs to slam new recipes into the mike, competing for $1000 cash + a season festival pass for the following year with your own feature set and most important of all... the right to hold aloft the coveted perpetual “WordFood Slam shield”!

Slam Heat is set to HIGH with nine sizzling finalists already drawn from the SE QLD heats & recent final of the Australian Poetry Slam! There are two more open heats coming up – one in Ipswich & the other at the festival site before the main event: the WordFood Slam Final on NYE from 5-7pm at the Parlour hosted by WordFood Slammaster Ghostboy.

Slam is a live spoken word competition created in the 1980's by Marc “So What” Smith in Chicago. Open to all people & all forms of spoken-word - poetry, hip hop, theatre, whatever! - each person slams their words to a live audience among whom 5 are selected to score each poet's work. The audience at a slam has the freedom to express itself in any way they see fit! Each poet entering the slam risks all and needs to give all to the slam and the audience.....this is an event for the people!

Here are all your slam rules:

1. The Heats & Final: - one slam round per heat with a maximum of 16 poets per heat; the first 16 to sign up at the heat will be chosen.
2. Poets must perform their own original work in under 2 minutes.
3. The top 3 scores go through to the final on NYE from each of these two heats.
4. The highest heat scorer gets a full season pass to this year%rsquo;s Woodford Folk Festival; the two runners up get one overnight camping pass each.
5. Five judges are randomly selected from the audience at both the heats & the final.
6. Sign-up starts 30 mins before each heat – first in, first served!
7. In the final, the overall winner is the highest score on the night.
8. The overall winner receives $1000 and entry to the Woodford Folk Festival the following year.

WordFood Slam 2009 Heats

Ipswich - Thurs 5th November 7pm. The Squealing Pig, 214 Brisbane Street, Ipswich. Entry FREE. Presented in partnership with Ipswich Poetry Feast. Slam MC: Ghostboy

Woodford Folk Festival - Tues 29th December 5 - 7pm@ The Parlour. Slam sign up at the front of the venue from 4.30pm. Slam MC: Ghostboy

For further WordFood Slam details email Ghostboy at: holyghostboy@gmail.com