Do you have the gift of words & are you ready to share it online?

Compete in Poetry Africa’s 2020 online Open Mic Competition and stand a chance to win and to feature in the closing event of the 2020 Poetry Africa Festival.

Whatsapp a video recording of your performance to 071 326 7272

Terms and conditions apply. Check the regulations before you submit.

Rules of the Competition:

  1. There is no entry fee for participation
  2. The competition is open to unpublished poets residing in South Africa.
  3. Entries can be submitted in any South African official language.
  4. There is no theme for the competition. Entrants in the competition must use the power of their voices to share their stories, ideas, vision, and hopes through their spoken words.
  5. A poet may submit a maximum of three poems.
  6. The length of the poems must not exceed 2 minutes per poem.
  7. The entry must be a video recording of the poet performing the poem. The video can be made on a cellphone but must be filmed held in landscape. The recording must be WhatsApped to 071 326 7272 The entry must include the poet’s name, surname and title of the poem.
  8. Poetry Africa will share the poem on their o Poetry Africa Facebook page
  9. Poems will be shared as they are received by Poetry Africa.
  10. A panel of judges will select the ten best submissions. These will be presented in a special online programme on the final day of the Poetry Africa Festival.
  11. Three winners will be selected who receive the following prices:
    • First Prize: R2 000.00
    • 1st Runner Up: R1500
    • 2nd Runner Up: R1000
  12. The judges’ decisions will be final, and no correspondence shall be entered into with any entrant.
  13. An Audience Choice Prize will be awarded to the poet whose submission receives the most LIKES on the Poetry Africa Facebook page.
  14. Poetry Africa reserves the right to exclude any submissions from being shared’ online if the submission does not meet the competition’s minimum standards.
  15. The following criteria will be used to judge the submissions:
    • Content
    • Performance
    • Originality
  16. By submitting an entry to the Poetry Africa 2020 ONLINE OPEN MIC COMPETITION entrants give Poetry Africa the consent to share the submission on the Poetry’s Africa’s online platforms.
  17. Closing date: 9th of October