The College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) is an annual
Poetry Slam
A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...
tournament put on by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) in which teams of four or five college students from different colleges and universities compete against each other. Its location changes every year.
The competitive element is not the primary focus of the event; it is an opportunity for student poets to showcase their art and to develop their writing and presentation skills so as to take advantage of future opportunities in poetry.
The event is inclusive, and all students are welcome.
History
The first CUPSI tournament was organized in 2001 by Robb Thibault. It was held at
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of th ...
. Seven teams competed in the first tournament. The number of teams participating in CUPSI has grown since then with 53 teams competing in 2014. The 2016 competition will take place at the University of Texas at Austin on April 6–9.
The increase in attendance coincides with the growth of slam poetry itself. Poets such as
Individual World Poetry Slam
The Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) is a yearly poetry slam tournament put on by Poetry Slam, Inc. that pits individual slam poets from around the world against one another.
History
From 1990 to 2007, the National Poetry Slam held an "ind ...
champion Rudy Francisco have noted a general trend in the prevalence of poetry slam in everyday life.
Several videos of poems performed at CUPSI having gone viral on the internet, including Lily Myers's poem "Shrinking Women", which was viewed by over three million people within a year of its posting, and Patrick Roche's "21," which gained over three million views in its first two weeks after publishing. Poems from CUPSI have been featured on several popular political blogs and news sites, including ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'',
Upworthy
Upworthy is a media brand that focuses on positive storytelling.
It was started in March 2012 by Eli Pariser, the former executive director of MoveOn, and Peter Koechley, the former managing editor of '' The Onion''. One of Facebook's co-found ...
, and
. Many of these videos were filmed and published by
Button Poetry
Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation ca ...
.
Format
Teams compete against each other in bouts consisting of four rounds of poetry in which each team sends one poem. The first two days of the tournament are preliminary bouts, and the rankings from these determine which teams advance onto semi-finals. The scores in semi-finals determine who makes Final Stage. Judges are chosen at random from the audience.
CUPSI Poetry Slam Winners By Year
See also
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Individual World Poetry Slam
The Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) is a yearly poetry slam tournament put on by Poetry Slam, Inc. that pits individual slam poets from around the world against one another.
History
From 1990 to 2007, the National Poetry Slam held an "ind ...
*
List of performance poets
*
National Poetry Slam
The National Poetry Slam (NPS) was a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and, occasionally, Europe and Australia, participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurred in early August every y ...
*
Women of the World Poetry Slam
The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWPS) (since 2021 known as Womxn of the World Poetry Slam) is an annual international poetry competition and festival. The poetry slam is open to "people 18 years and older who navigate the world as and/or id ...
*
Oral poetry
Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain.
Background
Oral poetry is ...
*
Performance poetry
Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a Performance art, performance before an audience. It covers a variety of styles and genres.
History
The phenomenon of performance poetry, a kind of poetry specifically m ...
*
Poetry Slam
A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.
Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...
*
Poetry Slam, Inc.
Poetry Slam, Inc. (PSi) is a non-profit organization that runs three poetry slams: the National Poetry Slam (NPS), the Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS), and the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWps). Poetry Slam, Inc. was established in 199 ...
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Spoken word
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
College Unions Poetry Slam InvitationalAssociation of College Unions International
Button Poetry
Poetry slams