Opportunities for poets 13-25 years old

With so many issues affecting our everyday lives, many folks don’t have the opportunity to think about one of the world’s pressing issues: Global Warming. Whether or not you’re thinking about it, we want to hear from you. What we want to know is: Do you think about global warming? And if you do, what do you think? And if you don’t, what’s in the way?

For the second year, Youth Speaks is partnering with the Sundance Summit: A Mayors’ Gathering on Climate Protectionto host a spoken word competition on global warming. We’re going to do an event as part of Brave New Voices in San Jose, July 17-21, and we’re accepting poems right now to choose the ten finalists who will perform for the opportunity to be one of 3 winners who will take home $500 and a free trip to the mountains of Utah to perform to Mayor’s from across the country in September. Last year, George Watsky received a ten-minute standing ovation from the group of Mayor’s reining from San Francisco and Anchorage, to Seattle, Minneapolis, and …

Rarely do poets have the opportunity to speak directly to a group of political leaders and lawmakers who are there to listen. Here’s your chance.

Send us your best spoken word pieces that will help hundreds of U.S. mayors understand how young people think about global warming (or if you don’t, why don’t you)

Tell them the stories that only you can tell—from your community, your neighborhood, your family, your dreams – your perspective.

Tell them what you see, and what you don’t see happening.

Tell them what you want, and want you don’t want to inherit.

Tell them what you need them to do.

These may be pieces about air so dirty your friends have asthma or about news reports that say someday your city may sink. Or, these may be pieces about why global warming isn’t something you have the luxury to think about or why it’s not an issue that you are passionate about. And if that’s the case, tell us what is? And what would need to happen to make global warming more of a priority for you?

Why is this a contest worth entering? Ten submissions will be selected, and those poets will be invited to compete at a special session during the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival on July 21, 2007, in front of hundreds of people and a panel of judges, who will select three winners from the ten.

Then, the three winning poets will receive $500 in prize money, will be featured on the Sundance Channel’s The Green, and will be flown to Utah this September to perform their piece at the 2007 Sundance Summit for the attending U.S. mayors.

This is truly a chance to speak truth to power—directly—and to inspire Americas’ mayors to go home and take action. Help them understand what you need them to do.

They are ready, and they are listening.

 

How You Can Enter:
Poets between the ages of 13-25 are welcome to submit up to three pieces of original work (each piece should be a maximum of 3:30 minutes long when performed) along with a cover sheet that includes your name, age, place of birth, current city of residence, contact information, and title(s) of poem(s).

Submissions can be sent via email to sundance@youthspeaks.org or by regular mail to:

Youth Speaks – Global Warming Contest
290 Division Street, Suite 302
San Francisco, CA 94103

All submissions must be received by 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time, June 21, 2007.

What You Can Win:
On July 1, 2007, 10 poets will be notified that they have been selected to compete during the special Speak Truth to Power about Global Warming session at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival at the San Jose Repertory Theater in San Jose, California on July 21, 2007 where three winners will be chosen by a panel of judges on stage.

The competition will be filmed and short 2-3 minute films will be produced and aired on The Sundance Channel’s The Green. Additionally, up to 5 entries may be included in a Global Warming Poetry collection produced and distributed to the mayors attending the Sundance Summit as well as to hundreds of others mayors engaged in a worldwide movement to end global warming

All three winners will receive a prize of $500 and will be flown, all expenses paid, to Sundance, Utah to perform their work at the 2007 Sundance Summit, September 9-12, 2007 and will be invited to participate in the event, and possibly travel to a handful of other U.S. cities as part of the Sundance Summit art exhibition and tour.

Rules and Details:
The goal of this contest is to inspire political action and to speak to those who can make a difference. The judges will seek out constructive and truthful messages that can lead to hope. We are not looking for poems that bash the administration. Instead, we are looking for the real stories and the real voices that can tell these stories.

The Sundance Summit is about influential people coming together and working together to solve a global problem that threatens humanity.

Submissions must adhere to PG-13 language guidelines (sorry).

Poets will retain rights to reproduce and perform their work anytime, anywhere, but the Sundance Summit will own the right to reproduce all work submitted.

For more information about the 2007 Sundance Summit visit www.sundancesummit.org.