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HISTORY
The First Citizens National Poetry Slam celebrates its 14th year in 2025 as the leading stage for Spoken Word in the Caribbean. With a total prize pool of TT$80,000 and TT$50,000 awarded to the champion, it proudly offers the largest cash reward for Spoken Word artists in the English-speaking Caribbean.
2025 marks the 14th edition of the First Citizens National Poetry Slam which is renowned as the largest stage for Spoken Word in the Caribbean, with a TT$50,000 first place prize, the biggest cash prize for Spoken Word artists in the world.
In 2024, the Slam reverted to in-person auditions in Trinidad and in Tobago through a partnership with the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS). The Grand Slam was held at Queen’s Hall for the first time.
The championship was a televised event with live judging broadcast and streamed to the public for free in in 2020 and 2021. Closed auditions were held via Zoom, where twenty poets were chosen for the semi-final rounds airing in August of both years.
In 2022, all stages of the championship were accessible for public viewing, for free, and was hosted by popular personalities each year. 2023 marked the return of the annual Spoken Word championship to its traditional in-person, pre-covid schedule, with the reintroduction of the popular Wild Card feature of the Slam.
In 2025, the Slam’s organising committee continues its partnership with the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) and other locations to host Slam auditions at National Library locations across Trinidad and Tobago.
Over fourteen years, the First Citizens National Poetry Slam has seen:
1,418 poets auditioned (2013-2025)
438 semi-finalists (2013-2025)
175 finalists (2013-2025)
45 winners (1st – 3rd places)
TT $799,000 distributed in prize money
88 Slam events to date
