# Event Details - **Event Name**: Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks - **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 05:30 pm – Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 08:30 pm - **Event Description**: Powered by Youth Speaks The moment you've been patiently waiting for, the 2026 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam is here!About this EventFor over 25 years, the Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam has propelled spoken word around the globe. Youth from all over the Bay Area compete to advance in the competition, become a finalist, and rep the Bay Area at , a 4-day youth poetry festival and National Slam.The Teen Poetry Slam and are traditions celebrating some of the most astounding young writers and performers around the world, and are open to anyone 19 and under.HOW DO I COMPETE?Think you got the heat to take the crown?Youth poets and writers, bring your best poems to the 2026 Teen Poetry Slam to compete for a $50 prize and a chance to represent the Bay Area at the 2026 Festival!First, register for Teen Poetry Slam 2026 at , then pull up to sign up to get on the mic the day of the slam at 5 pm PT. The Teen Poetry Slam is only open to Bay Area teens under the age of 19 years old who want to compete.PERFORMANCE SLOTSTeen Poetry Slam performance spots are first come first serve for the first 20 slots and raffle for the last 5.HOW DO I GET TICKETS?If you’re interested in cheering from the audience, register for tickets to the 2026 Teen Poetry Slam using this Eventbrite page.WHAT IS A POETRY SLAM?Poetry Slams are an Olympic-style competition where poets have 3 minutes to rock the stage, mic, and audience, with 5 judges scoring each round.HOW DO THE ROUNDS WORK?The Teen Poetry Slam or “TPS” consists of 4 rounds — Preliminaries, Semi-finals, Last Chance, and Finals. The top 10 scoring poets in each preliminary bout move on to the semifinals, with the highest scoring poet from each preliminary bout winning $50. We have a very special prize for our Top 3 scoring poets of the night, an exclusive paid interview at our Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #2 at KQED in San Francisco.The top 6 highest-scoring individuals from Finals are invited to represent Team Bay Area at the 2026 Festival.COVID ProtocolAs we continue to explore new opportunities to gather & build community within an ever-changing world, we will continue to practice harm reduction & remain accountable to your safety.In the interest of maintaining a safe and accountable environment for all participants, masks are recommended and available at the check-in table at all Youth Speaks Events. If you have tested positive for COVID or been in close contact with someone with confirmed COVID, please do not attend Youth Speaks activities until you are able to produce a negative COVID test 5 days after your most recent exposure.VOLUNTEER @ YS Link - https://ideali.st/u3j5njTo support Youth Speaks' mission, please send contributions to Network for Good.Agenda?: 05:00 PMSign Up List Opens?: 05:30 PMHouse Opens?: 06:00 PMShow StartInfo: Sign Up List Closed and Show Starts?: 08:30 PMShow End - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810 - **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, festivals, contests, performances, entertainment, spoken-word - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Berkeley - **state**: CA - **country**: United States - **location**: La Peña Cultural Center - **lat**: 37.8528053 - **long**: -122.2659249 - **full address**: La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/4198e8571b5eb1a66d1dcca64e1cf561ee2f289d494cdceac338ce2f0ac8508b-rimg-w1200-h675-dc1a1813-gmir.jpg?v=1769355105 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks being held? - **A:** Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks takes place on Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 05:30 pm to Fri, 30 Jan, 2026 at 08:30 pm at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks? - **A:** Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks is organized by Youth Speaks. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Teen Poetry Slam Prelims #1 | Youth Speaks", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events8/banners/4198e8571b5eb1a66d1dcca64e1cf561ee2f289d494cdceac338ce2f0ac8508b-rimg-w1200-h675-dc1a1813-gmir.jpg?v=1769355105", "startDate": "2026-01-30", "endDate": "2026-01-30", "url": "https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "La Peña Cultural Center", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "3105 Shattuck Avenue", "postalCode": "94705", "addressLocality": "Berkeley", "addressRegion": "CA", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "37.8528053", "longitude": "-122.2659249" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Powered by Youth Speaks\nThe moment you've been patiently waiting for, the 2026 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam is here!", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "2026-01-30", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission (Youth)" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission (Adults)" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/berkeley/teen-poetry-slam-prelims-1-|-youth-speaks/100001977323497810", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission (Educators)" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Youth Speaks", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/youth-speaks/23379497", "description": "At Youth Speaks, the voices of young people matter.Committed to a critical, youth-centered pedagogy, Youth Speaks places young people in control of their intellectual and artistic development. We are urgently driven by the belief that literacy is a need, not a want, and that literacy comes in various forms.As we move more deeply into the 21st Century, oral poetry is helping to define the new American Voice. By making the connection between poetry, spoken word, youth development and civic engagement, Youth Speaks aims to deconstruct dominant narratives in hopes of achieving a more inclusive, and active, culture. Believing that young people have the tools to take control of their lives through language, Youth Speaks encourages youth to express themselves using their own vernacular.Youth Speaks believes that having knowledge, practice, and confidence in the written and spoken language is essential to the self-empowerment of an individual. We fill a need for creative approaches to literary arts education and literacy development; we believe it is crucial to provide spaces where youth can undergo a process of personal growth and transformation in a program that enriches their educational, professional, artistic and leadership skills.Mission & VisionYouth Speaks creates safe spaces to empower the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. We challenge youth to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of social change.Ultimately, we hope to shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core.HistoryFounded in 1996 in San Francisco, Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs in the country. Presenters of local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, reading series, and more, Youth Speaks also offers a comprehensive slate of literary arts education programs during the school day, in the after-school hours, on weekends and evenings, while providing numerous opportunities for youth to be published and heard. All told, Youth Speaks works with 45,000 teens per year in the Bay Area alone, and has helped create partner programs in 47 cities across the United States." } ] } ] ```