Contest Guidelines

Shout Out at the Bay Contest Guidelines-2025:

All poems must be original works of under 3 minutes and will be vetted for plagiarism by the Poetry Slam Committee. 

Poems must be school appropriate.

All registrations must be submitted online by February 21st 11:59 pm.

Poems must be submitted electronically via the student's school assigned google account during the registration process, which will be available from January 8th-February 21st. Poems must be finalized by February 21st 11:59 pm..  Any poem not finalized by Feb. 21st 11:59 pm will invalidate the registration and the student will not be permitted to participate. 

Poems must be performed individually (no groups) and should be recited from memory.

Voluntary practice will be in the Black Box Theater on Friday, February 28th from 2:20-4 p.m.

Shout Out at the Bay will take place in the Black Box Theatre on Tuesday, March 4th @ 6:30 p.m.  Contestants should arrive by 6:00 p.m.

Contestants will be evaluated by a panel of 5 randomly selected audience members who will use the Shout Out at the Bay Evaluation Sheet.

Your original poetry will be featured here on the Shout Out at the Bay website.