‘WORD’ Girls Through to Next Round

‘WORD - The Front Line’ is an inter-school spoken word poetry competition, bringing together teams of young people from across Auckland to share their stories in an explosion of youth expression. Also known as ‘slam poetry’ or ‘performance poetry,’ spoken word is a powerful creative medium that is currently seeing exponential growth in popular culture across the world. Young people, in particular, have connected with this medium and found a platform to share their opinions, voices and stories.

The programme focuses on writing, performance, team work, personal development, youth voice, identity, leadership and community. Schools could enter teams of up to six poets and four of our Year 11 students, Irene Wang, Alissa Huang, Charlotte Cornwall and Danielle Mayer took on the challenge!  

The team was required to present three poems they had written. Taking the theme of Kiwiana, the girls worked together, performing as a group, catching the eye of the judges. The judging criteria included writing technique, the uniqueness of the message, and the content – whether it resonated or made an impact. 

With two regional heats taking place last weekend, the top teams were selected from each region to progress to the semi-finals. Selected as semi-finalists, the girls have been assigned a ‘Slam’ coach by the organisers, drawn from some of New Zealand’s most celebrated poets and performers, to guide them through the next stage. 

Well done girls, we wish you all the best for the next round!