Peterborough school reaches final of spoken word competition

Nene Park Academy in Peterborough is one of seven schools with finalists in the annual spoken word event - SlamJam.

With both schools and performing arts centres closed, this year’s event was at risk of being cancelled - but organisers were determined to ensure young writers still had a platform to share their creative skills, ideas and experiences.

For the first time in its 11-year history, SlamJam has gone digital with more than 40 young people writing and submitting poems before participating in preliminary heats through Zoom calls.

Creative director Jan Kemp said: “SlamJam is an incredibly special and powerful programme which supports young people to build confidence in their thoughts and ideas and find their voice through poetry and spoken word.

"Their worlds have turned upside down over the last few months and so the idea of not holding SlamJam this year went totally against what we know its value to be. We’ve been blown away by the submissions and performances we’ve seen so far; this year’s digital final will certainly be one to remember.”

All poems written as part of this year’s competition have been developed in response to the theme of ‘lockdown’ and offer a valuable insight into how these unprecedented times have

been perceived by young people.

The SlamJam Final on Thursday, July 2 will be live-streamed via the new SlamJam YouTube channel here