Poetry tonight! Grand Final for performance poets

Throughout October Academi has been holding heats across Wales for the 2009 John Tripp (pictured) Award for Spoken Poetry in a bid to find the nation's best performance poet. Over 70 poets have now performed and the judges have chosen the 16 who will battle it out at the Grand Final tonight at The Wharf, Cardiff.

The finalists are, from the Llanhilleth heat, Bernard Pearson, David John Davies, Gemma June Howell and Thaer Al-Shayei; from the Pontardawe heat Dafydd Wynn, Heidi Lorenz, Nicholas Whitehead and Sally Spedding; from the Cardiff heat, Amanda Rackstraw, Clare Syder, Geraint D’Arcy and Nick Fisk and from the Llandudno heat, Anne Forrest, Gareth Glyn Roberts, Rhys Trimble and Liam Johnson.

However, only one can be named Wales’ best performance poet and walk away with the first prize of £500. As well as the judges’ choice of winner, there will also be an award of £100 presented to the runner-up and a further £100 award to the winner of the Audience Prize.

The esteemed judging panel for the Grand Final will include New Welsh Review Editor, Kathryn Gray, 2009 Wales Book of the Year winner Deborah Kay Davies and Wiard Sterk, Executive Director of independent public art consultancy Safle. Poet Ifor Thomas, himself a former winner of the award, will introduce the evening.

The competition is widely renowned throughout Wales and has been exciting audiences and profiling new poets since 1990. Book your tickets now and be one of the first to find out who will come out on top and have your say as to who should be awarded the 2009 Audience Prize.

Tonight, 7.30 pm at The Wharf, Schooner Way, Cardiff, CF10 4EU. Tickets cost just £5.00 / £4.00 (concessions for Academi Members and Associates).