# Event Details - **Event Name**: 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP - **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 05 Sep, 2026 at 09:30 am – Sun, 06 Sep, 2026 at 10:30 pm (+10:00) - **Event Description**: 23rd NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP SEPTEMBER 5th & 6th 2026 32 INTERSTATE & LOCAL POETS EACH DOING 8 MINUTES OF POETRY Heats 9.30am – 4.30pm Saturday 5th September Semi- Finals 11.30am Sunday 6th September Final Dinner Sunday 6pm POETRY STARTS AT 6,45pm DELICIOUS FOOD AVAILABLE ALL WEEKEND Tickets at Door HEATS & SEMI- FINALS Gold Coin Donation FINAL $10 / 15 DETAILS ‘Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup’ Facebook Page THE CUP GUIDE 2026 NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP is sponsored by The Nimbin Community. Thank you. The following guide is given to all poets explains the rules, how event is run and poetry judged. It also gives tips to poets on how to have a good experience. The 2026 Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup is to be run over 2 days, first weekend of September [5th & 6th], at The Nimbin School of Arts, 47 Cullen St, Nimbin Heats are held on the Saturday from 9.30am. Semifinals are held on Sunday from 11.30am. Final is held Sunday night from 6pm. NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP Facebook Page has updates and answers will be there, or you can pm us THESE ARE THE 3 RULES 1. POETRY MUST BE ORIGINAL, not been performed in a previous Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup. 2. POETS SHOULD PERFORM EXACTLY 8 MINUTES OF POETRY. [One point deducted every 10 seconds above or below 8 minutes, up to 5 points] 3. NEW RULE - NO MOBILE PHONES ON STAGE. [They detract from performance and make noise at inappropriate times.] WE ARE THERE TO HELP POETS DO THEIR BEST, so feel free to ask questions via the NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP face book page, via email or in person before and over the weekend. The following guide may help. HOW POETS ARE ORGANISED? Running order is decided by poet’s names being drawn out of a bag. There are 4 HEATS of 8 POETS each on SATURDAY from 9.30am, with only 4 poets from each heat going to the Semifinals on Sunday. The 2 SEMIFINALS of 8 POETS each are run on SUNDAY from midday, only 4 poets from each Semi going to the Final Sunday night. The FINAL is on SUNDAY NIGHT from 6.45pm, contains 8 POETS. JUDGING Poets are judged on their POETRY [10 points] PERFORMANCE [10 points], AUDIENCE REACTION [10 points] TIME [5 points]. [details follow] TOTAL OF 35 POINTS JUDGES - Judges are selected for calm temperament, love of creativity and poetry. HEATS - There are 2 DIFFERENT JUDGES each heat. SEMI FINALS have 2 NEW JUDGES who have not seen the poetry in heats. FINAL is judged by THREE JUDGES, one of whom is the previous year’s winner. They have not seen the poetry in the heats or semi-finals. This roll call of judges is to keep judges fresh, provide a balance of perspectives in heats and stop earlier performances influencing judging of later performances. JUDGE’S DECISION IS FINAL, BASED ON WHAT THEY SEE, HEAR AND FEEL. TIP – Please do not try and interact with judges verbally or physically; they are impartially and objectively judging you, deserve respect and space to do their job. May mark down bothersome poets. JUDGING CRITERIA POETRY [10 POINTS] How good is the poetry? Poets can perform ONE OR MORE poems on any subject to fill their 8 minutes. The inclusion of known catchphrases, sayings and other social references is allowed, but the aim is to present work that is creative, original, not copied or plagiarised. Poets can do different poetry each round, though most poets stick with the same poem[s]. Profanity is acceptable in context, but this is a family friendly event, so swearing may go against you. There are more poetic ways to express yourself than profanity. PERFORMANCE [10 POINTS] How good is poetry presentation? How you present YOUR 8 MINUTES of poetry IS UP TO YOU. Stand up, on your head, on your knees, lie down, run around the stage, jump up and down, speak loudly, quietly, in foreign languages or tongues; the choice is yours. Assistants or poetic partners are allowed. The Cup has seen duets, people holding pages and props, someone doing the poet’s words in sign language beside them. Costumes are allowed. Props are allowed, ON THE CONDITIONS that they are set up nearly instantly, present no danger/ hazard to audience/ venue and do not leave a mess. TIP – Being yourself, orating clearly into the microphone, sharing your words with feeling, facial expressions and body movements, is a proven technique. YOU CAN READ YOUR POEM FROM PAPER, BUT THE JUDGES WILL SCORE YOU LOWER THAN A POET WHO HAS LEARNT TO RECITE AND PERFORM THEIR POETRY. AUDIENCE REACTION [10 POINTS] Audience reaction is going to correlate with how the audience reacts to what you the poet are doing through all of your 8 minutes. It is based on the judge’s perception of whether you are connecting with the audience and the vibe you are creating. It is easy to assess comedy because the audience will laugh if it is working. It is harder to judge reaction to deeper pieces, as silence may be rapt attention or utter boredom. The judges however will be able to tell which poetry is working. Audience assessment is subjective, but remember that the judges are ‘audience’ too, so if they are not ‘feeling you’, then there is a good chance no one else is either. How much applause a poet gets is part of the assessment. Please do not touch, abuse, threaten or throw things at audience or judges. TIP-TRUST YOUR POETRY, PUT EVERYTHING INTO IT FOR 8 MINUTES. TIME [5 POINTS] How close to 8 minutes? ONE POINT OFF FOR EVERY 10 SECONDS ABOVE OR BELOW 8 MINUTES, UP TO TOTAL OF 5 POINTS. YOUR TIME STARTS WHEN YOU FIRST SPEAK but if the JUDGES FEEL you have started COMMUNICATING through gestures, mime or using props,, they will start clock. EIGHT MINUTES was chosen to give poets as much opportunity as possible to share their skill with words and performing while keeping event manageable. Having a strict time encourages poets to practice and replicates reality where employers [eg cabaret] ask poets to adhere to strict timelines TIME is important, as there have been instances where poets have equal scores in the other subjective judging criteria and it has come down to the objective Time Score, to determine who goes through or wins. It is up to the poet to prepare their poetry to fit the time; the JUDGES WILL NOT tell you how much time you have left. TIP – When learning your poetry, do it as fast as you can go and then as slow as you can go; in the middle of this is where you want to be performing. Divide your 8 minutes into sections and time how long each section takes. Practice endlessly so you can feel if you are going too fast or slow. TIP - If you do multiple poems, when working on your set, allow time for audience clapping between poems, otherwise they might put you over 8 MINUTES. PRIZES First prize - $2000 Other 7 Finalists - $300 each People’s Choice Award - $500 Sound Man’s Award - $100 plus $25 and $50 encouragement awards. ALL MONEY IS RAISED BY THE NIMBIN COMMUNITY, SO BIG THANKS. TIP – Do not worry about how much money you hope to win: the main things for poets to do, is enjoy the weekend, the company of other poets and their words. WINNING IS NOT IMPORTANT, ONLY ONE POET GETS TO DO IT. Doing your best, respecting other poets, having fun and poetry, are what is important!! AUDIENCE The Nimbin Performance Poetry World is the best value for money poetry event. You can get into Heats on Saturday and Semi Finals on Sunday for a gold coin donation. A ticket to Final is $15 at the door. We highly recommend you go on Saturday and see all the poets as attrition of competition means a lot of good poets do not appear on Sunday. Saturday is also where you will see and hear the new and upcoming poets, who need your support. You also get to select the winner of the People’s Choice Award PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD OF $500 is given to the POET JUDGED BEST BY THE AUDIENCE IN THE HEATS. At the end of each heat, the audience members are asked to write their favourite poet down, these are collected and added up. It is based on the percentage of votes in each heat, to allow for different audience numbers at each heat. The winner is NOT necessarily a poet who has advanced on judge’s choice, they are the one the people liked the most, ARE THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE! Come and get involved in the 23rd Annual NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP Saturday 5th – Sunday 6th September 2026. Thanks for your support. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/lismore/23rd-nimbin-performance-poetry-world-cup/200030445184921 - **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, performances, entertainment, nonprofit, comedy, contests - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 81 ## Ticket Details ## Event venue details - **city**: Lismore - **state**: NS - **country**: Australia - **location**: Nimbin School of Arts - **lat**: -28.596185992046 - **long**: 153.22325527668 - **full address**: Nimbin School of Arts, 47 Cullen St, Nimbin NSW 2480, Australia, Lismore ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events6/banners/75d25a20024b11bf12a9d0051c4d31d206e72f052bbe630fc293c2df02b02f04-rimg-w515-h297-dcf8f808-gmir?v=1788080018 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP being held? - **A:** 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP takes place on Sat, 05 Sep, 2026 at 09:30 am to Sun, 06 Sep, 2026 at 10:30 pm at Nimbin School of Arts, 47 Cullen St, Nimbin NSW 2480, Australia, Lismore. - **Q**: Who is organizing 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP? - **A:** 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP is organized by Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** 23RD NIMBIN PERFORMANCE POETRY WORLD CUP is ideal for festival lovers, culture enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a vibrant, immersive community experience. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Lismore, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. 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