WORD UP! Spoken Word Contest 2009 Part 1

High school students (grades 9-12) celebrate their voices through a spoken word contest sponsored by the public libraries of Jefferson County and the Birmingham Museum of Art. The students perform an original work inspired by a work of art at the museum. This is the second annual contest for the event.

The WORD UP! winners will perform at Alabama Bound, an author fair held at the Birmingham Public Library on Saturday, March 28, at 10:00 a.m. Visit www.alabamabound.org for details.


Warm-Up Performance by Eboni Price The Queen

A third place winners in the school contests will warm up the audience. They will NOT be included in the competition, but the judges will grade them in order to get warmed up themselves and to acquaint the audience and contestants with the grading system.

The contestants will perform original poetry inspired by the following museum artworks:

Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon
by John Singer Sargent
located in the American Galleries, 2nd floor

Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California
by Albert Bierstadt
located in the American Galleries, 2nd floor

Headdresses
Sioux people
located in the Native American Galleries, 3rd floor

Female Helmet Mask (sowei)
Mende people, Sierra Leone
located in the African Galleries, 3rd floor

WORD UP! is a spoken word poetry event presented in the form of a poetry slam, a competitive poetry reading in which contestants perform original poetry.

Emcee: Jim Reed
Judges: Jerri Hardesty, Kirk Hardesty, Sharrif Simmons

WORD UP! Committee
Velester Debro
Donald Garrett
Matthew Layne
Barry Marks
Haruyo Miyagawa
Tatum Preston
Rochelle Sides-Renda
Sharrif Simmons
Deidre Sims
Lorraine Walker
Steven Yates

Category:

Education

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