A Word from the SlamMaster, Scott Woods:
It is my honor to be Columbus's original SlamMaster. I take the position very seriously, and my work extends to the national organizing level as well as the local and regional
level, so what I do at home reflects in other places. It is my promise to not ever change any of these rules regarding a season during the course of an active slam season,
unless something overwhelmingly drastic happens.
Check back before a season starts to see if anything's changed.

Updated 7/7/08 - updates in red

1) Qualifying slams will be held during the regularly advertised slams on the usual Writers' Block Poetry slam night. 

Writers' Block Slam Seasons
NPS season: January - April; Grand Slam in April
IWPS season: July - August; Grand Slam in August
WOWPS season: October - November; Grand Slam in December

All poets entering a slam for the purposes of team contention will be asked if their participation in that slam is to be considered for contention. 

Poets who sign up for contention will be awarded points for placing in the top 4 places:
- 4 points for 1st
- 3 points for 2nd
- 2 points for 3rd
- 1 point for 4th.

If they do not wish to be considered for the a team or WOWPS/IWPS slot at that time, they will be awarded no points during that slam regardless of where they place.  Points will not be retro-actively awarded at any time. Points will not slide.

The top 8 poets with the highest accumulation of points from their respective slam seasons will be put in a pool of candidates for their respective Grand Slam.

2) To qualify for any season's Grand Slam you must compete in at least 2 preliminary slams during that season.
This means you can't get points in one slam and then disappear the rest of the season until the Grand Slam, even if you have enough points to make the cut. Equally, this means that just because you got a lot of points in one slam doesn't mean you get to be in the Grand Slam for a given season. If you get 4 points in one slam, you still need to compete in another slam for those 4 points to matter.

This does NOT mean you have to win a slam or even get points in a slam to count. You may even slam without contention to meet your 2-slam requirement, say if you believe you have enough points for yourself and don't want to take points away from others. We ask only that you genuinely participate if you are to represent our reading. Two slams in a 3-4 months period isn't too much to ask.No, slamming once in one season and once in another season does not count.
No, slamming in special shows or non-competitive slams does not count.If you want a visual aid about what that means the pool will look like, here is an example. Poets with points but who have not done more than one preliminary slam will have their names in parenthesis in the pool until they participate in at least one more slam.Example:
NPS 2008 POOL
1) Poet A - 6 points
2) Poet B - 4 points
3) (Poet C - 2 points)
4) Poet D - 1 point

In this example, if C does not participate in another slam beyond the one they did to get the 2 points, they won't be in the Grand Slam and all poets below then in rank will move up when prelims are over.

3) There is no minimum age or experience requirement.  All people are welcome to slam, but the events are typically 21+.

4) Team members will likely have weekly meetings on dates determined by the coach of the team.  These meetings, if scheduled, are mandatory.  Poets who miss meetings or other team requirements may be replaced.  If replacements are necessary, they will be handled by the score placement of remaining poets in the candidate pool as can be reasonably accomodated.

5) NPS / IWPS / WOWPS reps will be expected to participate in fundraisers as deemed necessary by their coach and/or SlamMaster..

6) Poets will have to be able to clear about a week of time for Nationals (usually early August), and about 4 days for WOWPS (early March) and IWPS (October).

7) Any poet who wants to oversee their own travel and/or hotel accommodations needs to make this course of action clear within the two weeks following their acceptance onto the team.  The budget will have been decided by this point and if they wish to be removed from aspects of the budget it is a personal decision and will be respected.  However, putting them back into the budget after the initial 2 weeks will not be possible and could lead to removal from the team based on circumstances.

8) Poets need not be Columbus residents (though not being a Columbus resident puts you at risk of missing team requirements, which might result in your removal from the team).

9) Poetry Slam Inc. (PSI) - the organization that oversees the NPS every year - has made the signing of video/audio release forms mandatory to participate. What this means: If you don't want PSI to have the rights to video/audio footage they compile of you at NPS/IWPS/WOWPS then you don't want to try out for the team or these slots.

10) Once you slam with a poem for NPS / IWPS / WOWPS contention you are not allowed to slam with that poem again in a contention slam until the Grand Slam for that team/IWPS/WOWPS slot. If you make it to any of the Grand Slams you may repeat poems as you see fit, but not before then.  This is our "No Repeat" rule.
Yes, you may repeat a poem in an NPS season for contention in and IWPS or WOWPS season of the same year, and vice-versa.