TEAM SIGN-UP INFORMATION
(This is being mailed out to all teams on April 15th)

The 1998 National Poetry Slam is a sponsored project of the City of Austin, the Austin Writers' League, and the Austin Circle Of Theaters

We, the 1998 National Poetry Slam Organizing Commitee, invite you to be part of the 1998 National Poetry Slam, to be held in Austin on August 19-22, 1998. The following information is intended to convey our registration process as directly and honestly as possible. Any immediate questions about registration not answered in the following missive can be directed to Phil West, 512-419-7669, pony@mail.utexas.edu, or Mike Henry, 512-326-9692, jacksabbath@yahoo.com.

Those teams and individuals who have participated in prior Nationals may apply as soon as these packets are received; those teams and individuals new to Nationals may also apply as soon as these packets are received, but those applications will be held for processing until May 15, 1998. After May 15, all packets received will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Our current plans are for competition involving 36 teams and 12 additional individual competitors from cities or regions not represented by slam teams. If there is a large enough demand, we will accept up to 45 teams and 15 individuals. However, our final number will be a multiple of three in order to adhere to our competiton structure, so a timely response is your best insurance against being the odd team or individual out. We're sending out packets like this one to well over 50 cities with an ongoing slam series, so again, we stress the importance of rushing us your application. We'll try to keep a running tab of registered competitors via e-mail. If you're not on the unofficial big list of slam e-mail addresses, contact me immediately to get all our latest news and high-energy nervous ramblings.

All competitors will participate in three-team bouts (with an additional individual competitior reading at the start of the fourth rotation) on Wednesday and Thursday nights, the top 18 teams will compete in the Friday night semi-finals, the top ten individual competitors will compete in the Friday night individual semi-finals, and the top four teams and six individual competitors will compete in the Saturday night finals. Individual applicants, please note that you will be competing for individual semi-finals slots along with team members who perform solo on Wednesday and Thursday night. Team members who use group pieces in their slots either Wednesday or Thursday night will forfeit their eligibility for the individual competition, as has been the case in prior National Poetry Slams.

Registration prices will remain the same as they've been for the last two years: $300 for teams, and $75 for individuals. However, each participant will be required to join Poetry Slam, Inc., the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed last year to handle the adminstration, growth and protection of the worldwide poetry slam movement. Each team member or individual must contribute $15 in annual dues with the registration form; instructions for this will be included in the registration sheet. If your team members are not known at the time of registration, we ask you to pay $60 per team, and any necessary refunds will be handled by Poetry Slam, Inc. once you've notified us of your team members. If you have team members at the time of registration who have already procured their memberships, proof of membership (such as a photocopy of your Official Poetic License) may be submitted in lieu of the $15 dues for that team member.

As decided at this year's Slammasters Meeting in Chicago, teams must represent (and compete under the name of) a specific city, region, or borough within a city, and teams must be formed through an open competition sponsored by an ongoing slam series or reading series. Although the structure of a particular team's open competition falls under the jurisdiction of local organizers, all teams applying will be expected to give either a detailed description of their competition structure, or in those hopefully-rare cases where team members have been hand-picked, a valid and convincing argument for eschewing an open competition. The 1998 National Poetry Slam Organizing Committee will contact every team's representative for follow-up questions before the registration is processed; current and complete contact information will assist us greatly in expediting your registration.

Upon completion of registration processing, we will send you a postcard confirming your registration. You will receive a packet in mid-July with information about your bouts, the venues, day and late-night events. Each competitor will receive a laminate badge good for all Wednesday through Friday events, plus a ticket for the Saturday finals, at the 1998 NPS Opening Ceremonies on Wednesday, August 19, 1 p.m., at the Electric Lounge, 302 Bowie. We will update information periodically on our official website, http://slam.home.texas.net/98Nationals.

We ask that you send poet biographies (maximum 60 words please) as soon as your team members are known. You may either e-mail bios to Phil West or mail them to the official PO Box (PO Box 49823, Austin TX 78765) as soon as you have received confirmation of registration, as we will be using poet biographies in the Austin Chronicle's National Poetry Slam insert, to be published the Thursday before Nationals start. We may also use these bios on our website. Speaking of websites, Taylor Mali is setting up a website which will allow you to input contact information for a 1998 National Poetry Slam contact list. We strongly encourage each poet to send this information as soon as you receive confirmation of registration. You an access the page on a link on our Nationals website page (when it goes up.)

The registration confirmation will include information about submitting poems to This Order, an Austin-based literary magazine interested in publishing a Nationals-themed issue, and a 1998 National Poetry Slam anthology. The latest edition of the rules for National Poetry Slam competition can be found on the website, and we will enclose a copy of those rules in the July packet so everyone is clear on them.

Many of you may be wondering about prize money - not that that's your motivation for doing this (heh heh). We'll have a better idea in July, but each winning team member and the individual champion will receive at least $500. Prizes will be awarded for first through fourth place in both team and individual categories; the specific amounts will be included in the July packet.

We'd also like to let you know (especially for those of you with the desire to drive here or just to see more of Texas) that Dallas will be hosting a ten-team slam the weekend before Nationals, similar to Boston's warm-up slam for Connecticut last year. We are not connected with the Dallas event in any way, but we're passing along the word now in case you'd like to alter travel plans accordingly. Dallas is about a 4-hour drive from Austin, and many of the flights to Austin go through Dallas. Contact Clebo Rainey at 214-942-6812 or dallasslams@usa.net if you'd like more information on this event.

This concludes our attempt to answer your questions and pique your interest. We look forward to hosting what we hope will be the most exciting, largest, and most enjoyable Nationals ever. We plan to give returning and new poets a showcase worthy of their talents, energy, and investment in the poetry slam movement. We look forward to seeing you in the mail soon.

For the Committee,

Mike Henry, Juliette Torrez, and Phil West
Co-directors
1998 National Poetry Slam Organizing Committee