THE ARTISTS FORUM SPOKEN WORD COMPETITION, part of our Juried Arts Festival programming, is open to poets seeking to gain exposure in the New York City and international arts and media market.
Its mission is to provide an accessible platform for creative writer/performers to present their best work for juried selection, increase artist communication and business contacts, provide career advancement opportunities, and publicly award the work and talents of creative artists.
2024 THEME
Our 2024 Competition Theme: TECHNO-FEUDALISM*.
See our 2024 Juried Arts Festival page for competition theme details.
See our submission site for submission categories, Rules, and Terms for eligibility.
*While submissions aligned with our theme are preferred, we also accept non-theme related works.
Our 2024 Juried Arts Festival will be held in New York City this Spring.
SUBMISSIONS
Each submission, reviewed by a panel of industry professionals, will be rated upon its individual merits. Finalists in each category will be judged against one another and a winner declared. Please see Rules & Terms for eligibility.
Award recognition will be given at a ceremony in New York City, alongside screenings of selected films. In the case of COVID-19 restrictions, our award ceremony will be conducted online and then televised on Manhattan cable stations shortly thereafter.
All finalists will be considered for a MEET THE ARTISTS video profile and promoted on our online platforms.
Winners will be considered for a formal studio or Zoom interview with host to be promoted via THE ARTISTS FORUM TELEVISION – a 20+ year arts based television program broadcasted from mid-town Manhattan in New York City.
Opening Date: DECEMBER 4, 2023
Earlybird Deadline: DECEMBER 26, 2023
Regular Deadline: JANUARY 22, 2024
Late Deadline: FEBRUARY 19, 2024
Extended Late Deadline: MARCH 24, 2024
THE ARTISTS FORUM INC., now in its 25th year, is a New York City based non-profit arts service organization specializing in events, juried competitions, and media for artists. The organization provides an unparalleled platform for emerging and mid-career artists to share their stories with the world’s creative communities.
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2024 SPOKEN WORD COMPETITION JUDGES
JUDGES
Keisha-Gaye Anderson
Keisha-Gaye Anderson is a Jamaican-born poet, writer, visual artist, and communications and marketing strategist based in Brooklyn, NY. An award-winning author, Keisha’s poetry, fiction, and essays have been widely published in national literary journals, magazines, and anthologies.
Ron P. Bremner
R. Bremner has written of incense, peppermints, and the color of time since the ’70s and featured in International Poetry Review, Poets Online, Paterson Literary Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Sigmund Freud in Poetry, Quarterday Review, and 1979’s Passaic Review (alongside Allen Ginsberg). He’s published 8 books and won Allen Ginsberg awards thrice.
Emlyn Cameron
Steadfast in his passion for arts and poetry, language and performance has shaped Emlyn’s life. As a teen, he studied acting, then minored in video production as an undergrad before earning his Masters in Journalism at Columbia. He’s previously reported for the Saturday Evening Post and the NY Times. Currently, Emlyn writes for Law360.
Patricia Carragon
Patricia’s recent publications include Arriving at a Shoreline 2022, Bear Creek Haiku, Beat Generation 2022, Out Loud (LGBTQA Literary Arts Anthology), Red Wheelbarrow 2022, and When Women Speak Poetry, Vol. 1. Her debut novel is Angel Fire. Her books from Poets Wear Prada are Meowku and The Cupcake Chronicles. She hosts Brownstone Poets
Megha Sood
Megha is an award-winning Asian American poet, editor, author, and literary activist from New Jersey. She’s received the 2021 MVICW Poet Fellowship and several national poetry awards. Her work, The Medusa Project, has been selected as a digital payload to be sent to the moon in 2023 as part of the LunarCodex Project in with NASA/SpaceX
Amos White V
Amos is an inter-disciplinary multimedia artist, event producer, and exhibit designer. A graduate of the College of Human Ecology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Amos bridges his passion for the arts and human relations with the formation of THE ARTISTS FORUM.
Baron Wright
Baron is an award winning multi-disciplined artist, and motivational speaker. He is also the founder of BaronArts Inc. – a company focused on experiential learning, supportive arts, and personal development coaching. With over a decade of creative and transformational work experience, Baron uses innovative art-inspired techniques to help his clients.
