Sha Cage, one of the organizers of the 2012 Say Word! Youth Poetry Festival, fires up the participants before the start of the competition in Minneapolis on April 21, 2012. She describes the event as "a marathon of poetry and wild applause. It's lots of young people supporting each other."
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
Middle and high school students from across the Twin Cities area performed at the SAY WORD! Youth Poetry Festival in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 21, 2012.
The event, presented by the MN Spoken Word Association in collaboration with Plan-It-Hennepin, encourages creativity and hopes to cultivate students' passion for writing. The young poets competed in teams of four to eight members. They performed original works, each about three minutes in length, in front of an audience and a panel of judges. Organizer Sha Cage describes the event as "a marathon of poetry and wild applause."
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Performers reach out to the audience during the SAY WORD! Youth Poetry Festival. Sixteen teams of young poets took to the stage during the annual spoken word event.
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
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Sha Cage, one of the organizers of the 2012 Say Word! Youth Poetry Festival, fires up the participants before the start of the competition in Minneapolis on April 21, 2012. She describes the event as "a marathon of poetry and wild applause. It's lots of young people supporting each other."
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
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High school student Anna Inthakhot competes in the SAY WORD! Youth Poetry Festival at the New Century Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 21, 2012.
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
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