POETRY IDOL: entries close 25th May

What is SHORTFUSE?

Based in Islington, London, SHORTFUSE is a spokenword night that has been presenting a weekly fusion of stand-up poetry, performance comedy and music since April 2000. We actively promote up and coming writers and performers alongside established acts such as John Hegley, Rob Newman, Stewart Lee, and Simon Munnery to only name a few, and we have gained a reputation for giving space to performers to stretch the boundaries of what they do.

We have also been giving the oportunity for new poets and spokenword performers to present their work to an audience, and to help make the transition from open mic nights to wider exposure and paid performances, with a night we have named:

"I went to a poetry reading at a local pub where over a hundred people, all young, were crammed into a smoky upstairs room, cheering and booing and seemingly enjoying themselves, which is not the norm for poetry readings. The enthusiasm was unnerving..." Hugo Williams, TLS.

What is Poetry Idol?

The SHORTFUSE POETRY IDOL CONTESTS are held two to three times a year and feature poets, writers and performers new to SHORTFUSE.

We make the initial selection of six performers that meet our criteria from all submissions recieved before the closing date for the current contest.

The six performers are then invited to perform at SHORTFUSE for 10 minutes each, and then the audience will vote for their favourite. The winning two acts are both given a full length paid set later in the year, and automatically entered into the POETRY IDOL RIVAL IDOL contest.

Since winning the previous POETRY IDOL CONTESTS, Liz Bently, Rhian Edwards, Sarah Kobrinsky, Project Adorno, SP Howarth, Gareth Jones, Ritchie Scurvey, Richard Johnson, Suzanne Andrade, Paul Marshall, Kate Fox and Wayne Smith have had full length sets in various other spokenword venues including Express Excess and Apples & Snakes, plus 5 star Edinburgh Fringe shows.

'Poetry idols give five-star performance', a review of POETRY IDOL 4 in the Ham & High (10/12/2004) said:

"Each gave blazing performances in their 10 minutes in the limelight and all six were different in style and tone, sometimes weird and wonderful but never boring. The SHORTFUSE event lived up to its branding 'Putting the spark back into the spokenword', and the paying punters were treated to a creative fireworks display of talent".

How are the winners decided?

Although SHORTFUSE make the initial selection of six performers, based on a variety of criteria - POETRY IDOL is not a Poetry Slam!

Each POETRY IDOL night is run as a contest with the winners are decided by a democratic vote by the audience - each audience member is given a ballot paper to vote for their top three acts of the night.

The two acts with the highest amount of points are declared the winners and are booked to perform a full length 20 minute set later in the year. In previous contests the standard of performances have been so high that runner-ups have also been booked to perform at regular SHORTFUSE events.

CURRENT CONTEST:

We are now accepting submissions for SHORTFUSE POETRY IDOL 8. The closing date for submissions is Thursday 25th May 2006.

SHORTFUSE POETRY IDOL 8 will be held on Thursday 13th July 2006.

I want to be the next POETRY IDOL! How do I submit my work?

The closing date for submissions is Thursday 25th May 2006. We are currently receiving submissions from poets, performers and writers for POETRY IDOL 8*.

Please send a short recorded sample of your work (10 to 15 minutes is ideal) in either tape, video, cd, DVD or minidisc format. We are not concerned with the quality of the recording, but we do need to hear the style of your performance, if you think it would help us to judge your work fairly please also include printed copies of your work. We recomend that before submitting your work to us you try and attend a regular SHORTFUSE night, to see the diverse range and styles of poetry that we feature.

Then just send your envelope clearly marked to: SHORTFUSE, c/o The Camden Head, 2 Camden Walk, Islington, London, N1.

Please ensure you include full contact details, telephone number and email address. And include an SAE if you require your recording returned to you. If you require more information just contact us by email: poetryidol@shortfuse.co.uk

*all performers must be over 18.