Poets Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar, of Cowra edged out Frank Daniel, of Canowindra, to win a place in the Australian Poetry Slam State Final coming up in Sydney on 13 November. Frank Daniel, Alan Fragar, Kim Core, Matthew Ryan, Seamus Leyland, Dimas Bakini and Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, performed well and entertained the large crowd at the exciting theatre sports style event held at Cowra for the first time. Matthew spoke about being True Blue, Frank Daniels told the story of Martha Mary Regan, Dimas talked about life after leaving Sudan with some great rhymes involving kangaroos, Seamus told a funny story about UFOs - The Truth is Out There, and Kim Core implored us to tell real stories in her rhyme. Josh won the crowd over with his thought provoking poem Let us picture a world and Alan also won with his take on poetry slams incorporating an amusing topical limerick. The scores were close with five judges, chosen randomly from the audience, scoring each performance. The Australian Poetry Slam 09 is an initiative of the State Library of NSW, and is supported by state, territory and public libraries and festivals across the country. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding & advisory body. Pictured above is Frank Daniel, 3rd place, host Miles Merrill, and Poetry Slam winners Josh Simpson and Alan Fragar. Pictured below is the performers goofing around with host Miles Merrill.

Hey! You still have time to get ready for the Australian Poetry Slam Regional Heat at Cowra Library. Just two minutes could change your life! Get up and have your say - tell a story, say some rap or try some poetry - whatever - it doesn't matter, have fun and see if you can win over the audience - they are the judges. Its loads of fun and check out the amazing display at Cowra Library with loads of tips and ideas for budding performers. And look out for host Miles Merrill, he'll be entertaining everyone with his own special brand of spoken word artistry - a must see. Performers sign up from 5pm and the fun begins at 5.30pm at Cowra Library, Darling Street, Cowra.

Calling all poets, hip-hop artists, storytellers and other outspoken wordsmiths to speak, scream, howl, whisper or sing your original poem at the Australian Poetry Slam Regional NSW heat -- an electric live event where the audience is the judge! The heat will be held at Cowra Library Darling Street, Cowra on Friday 3 July 5.30pm. Performers sign up from 5pm. All contestants are given a mic, a live audience and just two minutes to impress the judges (selected at random from the audience) with their spoken word, poetry, hip hop, monologues and stories. Talented spoken word artist Miles Merrill will be the MC. This event is supported by the State Library of NSW and Central West Libraries. So come along and have your say.

ABC Radio news reports hip hop artist and poet Omar Musa from Queanbeyan has won this year's Australian Poetry Slam competition, held at Sydney Opera House last night. Poetry slam is a style of performed poetry which takes its influences from rap and hip hop. After the 18 state and territory finalists performed on topics such as going to the dentist and football, there was a tie between Omar Musa from Queanbeyan, south-east of Canberra, and Mark Lloyd from Western Australia. Mr Musa ultimately won the $5,000 prize. More than 600 people entered this year's competition, many with political themes such as the global financial crisis, war and women's rights. Regina Sutton from the State Library says there has been a resurgence of interest in poetry. "People are not only using their libraries more, reading more, they are really getting into poetry and great literature," she said. Read more about Poetry Slam contestants http://www.abc.net.au/local/features/poetryslam/default.htm

Congratulations to Greg North from Katoomba, and Andrew Riemer of Parramatta – the State champions for the Australian Poetry Slam. The contest was very close, sometimes only a decimal point the difference between the "slammers". Congrats to our finalists Josh Simpson and Shannon Elliott who were able to attend with the support of the Orange Regional Arts Foundation funding flights and accommodation. Read more about Poetry Slam finalist Josh Simpson in this newspaper article: http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/local/news/general/poet-wins-place-in-slam-finals/1365318.aspx. The State finalists now go on to the National Grand Slam at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday 4 December 7pm. Tickets are $20 and for bookings call (02) 9250 7777 or listen to the ABC Local Radio webcast live from 6.30pm on the night.

Wish our Australian Poetry Slam Regional Heat winners all the best when they take to the stage on Friday night for the State Final of the Australian Poetry Slam 08. Shannon Elliott, formerly of Canowindra, won the regional heat with his energetic rap "Self Acceptance" - about life, along with Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, who performed a moving poem about poetry. They each won Sydney flights and accommodation sponsored by The Orange Regional Arts Foundation and a spot in the final at the State Library of NSW on Friday 21 November at 6.30pm. There will be a total of 22 contestants from the regional heats held around the State. The NSW winner and runner-up take home $500 and $100 in prize money respectively and compete for a chance at the Australian Poetry Slam 08 title and $5,000 at the National Grand Slam in Sydney on 4 December. Good luck guys!

Budding poets can upload a two minute poetry slam video and compete for a wild card entry into the Poetry Slam National Grand Slam Final. The Grand Slam will be held at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday, 4 December and the online winner will compete alongside state winners for a chance of the $5,000 prizemoney. Anyone outside Sydney will be flown to the NSW capital and provided with accommodation. ABC Local radio has joined forces with State Libraries to bring the Australian Poetry to all Australians. There is now a dedicated online Poetry Slam destination: abc.net.au/poetryslam. For the first time ABC Local Radio will broadcast and stream all state finals, plus the Grand Slam Final. The dedicated website will include video of slam performances from heats and finals as well as the video entries in the online competition. Visitors will have the opportunity to join in forum discussion and comment on poet works. The online competition closes on Sunday November 16. Online entries will be judged by some of Australia's leading writing professionals, including spoken word artist Miles Merrill, poet Alicia Sometimes and Sydney Writers' Festival Artistic Director Dr Wendy Were. For more details about the Australian Poetry Slam and to find out what is on the mind of poets and performers go to abc.net.au/poetryslam.

Congratulations to all who took part. It was an incredible battle of words and poems, raps and raves last night as 12 entrants battled it out for a chance to compete in the NSW State Final for the Australian Poetry Slam 08. The theatre sport type entertainment included lots of audience participation as host Miles Merrill had everyone making noises and laughing at his observations on life and judges had fun scoring. Jacob Young stunned all with his autobiographical rap, Amy Johnson amazed everyone with her maturity shown in the poem "The Issue". Jeanette Pennings performed a poem about "A Moment" in a busy day, while Zac Wells described "A Winter's Day". Maggie Rosso almost had it won with a topical poem about "Retirement" while crowd favourite seven-year-old Phoebe Wells, took out third place with her thoughts on "Spring". The audience was moved to tears with Tony Owen dedicating his "Holding onto Dreams" poem to his late wife Debbie Owen who was one of the winners in last year's heat. And Amy Harrison impressed with her views on life while Maddison Wells skillfully described a Volcano and Rachel Suringa was dynamic with her performance of "The Flame". The winners were Shannon Elliott, of Canowindra, with is his energetic rap called "Self Acceptance" – about life and Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, with a moving poem about poetry. They both go on to perform on 21 November at the State Library of NSW with accommodation and flights sponsored by the Orange Regional Arts Foundation.

Here are the winners Shannon Elliott and Josh Simpson with host Miles Merrill:

And here are the entrants:

In the latest edition of the Orange Photo News newspaper a previous entrant in the Australian Poetry Slam competition shares her secret for sticking to the 2 minute time limit by using a microwave timer. 11 year-old Amy says she is no rapper but loves rhyming and speaking to a beat and took part in last year's event. The Australian Poetry Slam 08 Heat is being held at Orange City Library on Thursday 18 September at 6.30pm with performers allowed to sign up from 6pm. There is a limit of 20 contestants for the heat. Check out the display at Orange City Library for more details on rules, Poetry Slams and inspiration or go to www.wordsoutwest.com.au.