Friday August 6, 2010 marked the day of SPEAKout Summer Slam, but it was not like any of the past events. Held in the Royal Ontario Museum, located in the heart of Toronto, 13 of the country’s top poets, including SPEAKout‘s previous winners, joined to compete for $800 1st place cash prize. The competition was not easy, as our judges and audience soon discovered.

SPEAKout’s Summer Slam poets discussed various topics that left the audience in awe. From over 230 people making up a very multicultural audience, many were attending their first poetry slam ever, coming from various cities across the GTA and reaching in from as far as Guelph, Kitchener, and Oshawa! The audience came out describing the night as powerful, inspiring, and an event to never be missed!

The poets had their share of the experience too. They valued the feedback received by SPEAKout’s judges, and were happy to connect with many new fans and poets. Of course, the 3 top winners had the widest smiles from them all.

First Place prize of $800: Prufrock
Second Place prize of $400: Loh El
Third place prize of $200: Mustafa Ahmed

Congratulations to the winners and all the poets that made it through. We were happy to host one more successful event, and hope to continue spreading awareness through poetry and the arts with your support! Feel free to SPEAKout to us about your experience, and share any comments. We would love to hear from you!