The Philly Youth Poetry Movement’s (PYPM) slam team competed against 50 youth poetry teams from across the country and beyond in the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival to win the championship. Brave New Voices is the largest spoken word event in the world and was featured on HBO in 2010 and 2008. This year the festival took place in San Francisco, California from July 20-23.

On July 23, the Brave New Voices Grand Slam Finals took place in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,000 people in the San Francisco Opera House. The Philly Youth Poetry Movement joined teams from Denver, Detroit and New York City to compete in finals for the title. PYPM, who trailed throughout the final slam, pulled out the victory by 0.3 points.

The Philly Youth Poetry Movement is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to helping local youth ages 13-19 discover the power of their voices through spoken word and literary expression. The 2011 Philadelphia Youth Slam Team members include: Sinnea Douglas, Jamar Hall, Chamira Nelson, Kai Davis, and Safiya Washington who earned their spot on the team by competing in local poetry slams hosted by PYPM throughout the year. The team was coached by Perry “Vision” DiVirgilio and Kavindu Ade, who was a member of last year’s youth slam team.

The trip was made possible through generous donations from the City of Philadelphia by Mayor Michael Nutter who contributed $5,000, The Lomax Foundation who matched the City’s contribution, Southwest Airlines who provided air travel, individual donors, and fundraising by the youth poets. These collective efforts allowed PYPM to take the Youth Slam Team, plus seven additional Philadelphia youth poets who demonstrated commitment to the organization and their community. Yesterday, Mayor Nutter called to congratulate Team Philly on their championship win, saying that they are an “inspiration to our entire city.”

More than the poetry competitions, Brave New Voices created an opportunity for Philadelphia youth to meet other youth poets and leaders from around the world, including Guam, Toronto, Leeds, and teams from the Bay Area, Chicago to Greensboro, North Carolina. Youth participated in workshops, lectures, conferences, impromptu ciphers, and poetry open mics that were open to any youth who wanted to share a poem throughout the festival.

In 2007, the Philadelphia Youth Slam Team won first place at Brave New Voices, beating over 50 cities and more than 600 poets from around the country and Europe. In 2008, the Philly Youth Slam Team was featured as HBO covered the festival in “Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices.” This year, PYPM earned the championship, finishing #1 out of 50 teams. PYPM returns to Philadelphia from Brave New Voices today.

Click here for media coverage about PYPM winning Brave New Voices.

Watch one of the winning poems performed by PYPM at the 2011 Brave New Voices Grand Slam Finals.

"Post Partum" - Kai Davis, Sinnea Douglas, Safiya Washington