The Word

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The Word We are a collective of professional and student writers committed to increasing youth access to safe

CT’s National Championship Youth Slam Team is booked and busy! 🏆🎤Catch Ink Theory across CT this October, starting next ...
09/26/2026

CT’s National Championship Youth Slam Team is booked and busy! 🏆🎤

Catch Ink Theory across CT this October, starting next week at Possible Futures for the No Kids in Prison Pop-Up, hosted by CT Justice Alliance, in partnership YFJCo & Fall of Freedom.

Want Ink Theory at your next event?
📩 [email protected]

09/11/2026

✨ FLASHBACK TO THE 2026 CT POETRY OUT LOUD FINALS!

Meet Emma, Connecticut’s 2026 Poetry Out Loud State Champion! 🏆

This is a glimpse of the talent, confidence, and power students across Connecticut bring to the stage through Poetry Out Loud.

And now, we’re getting ready to do it all again! 👀

In partnership with the Connecticut Office of the Arts, The Word serves as the Community Activator for CT Poetry Out Loud, helping bring this national poetry recitation program into high schools across the state.

Over approximately three weeks, The Word coordinates professional Teaching Artists who work directly with students in their schools—helping them explore great works of poetry while strengthening public speaking, performance, confidence, and literary understanding.

Poetry Out Loud is designed to fit into existing classroom schedules and satisfies more than half of the NCTE English Language Arts Standards. 🎓📖

Then it’s time to take the stage. 🎤
Students advance from a schoolwide competition ➡️ to the Connecticut State Finals, where one student earns the opportunity to represent Connecticut at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C.

At Nationals, students from across the country compete for scholarships and awards—including a $20,000 prize for the national champion. 💰🏆

🏫 CT HIGH SCHOOLS: Who will represent Connecticut next? Bring Poetry Out Loud to your school and give your students an opportunity to discover poetry, develop their voice, command a stage, and potentially rep our state on the national level.

📩 Email [email protected] for more information.

🍂 FALL IS FOR THE WORD. 🎤✍🏽A new school year means new voices, new poems, and new opportunities to Lift. Every. Voice. H...
09/09/2026

🍂 FALL IS FOR THE WORD. 🎤✍🏽
A new school year means new voices, new poems, and new opportunities to Lift. Every. Voice. Here’s what’s happening at The Word this fall:

👑 2027 NEW HAVEN YOUTH POET LAUREATE
Applications are officially OPEN! We’re searching for the next young poet ready to use their voice, their art, and their platform to represent New Haven. Think that’s you or know a young poet who should apply? Send them our way!

💻 VIRTUAL CV + PORTFOLIO WORKSHOPS
Our first workshop kicks off TODAY! Join us every Wednesday for the next three weeks from 4–6 PM for workshops designed to help young creatives strengthen their CVs, build their portfolios, and put their best work forward.

🏫 BRING THE WORD TO YOUR SCHOOL
Teachers, administrators & educators: bring poetry into your classroom this fall! Invite The Word to your school for Poetry Out Loud programming or creative writing workshops tailored specifically to your students and classroom.

Whether you’re ready to apply, build, write, compete, or bring us into your school—we want to hear from you. 📝🔥

🔗 Website + Youth Poet Laureate application + workshop registration are all linked in our bio

09/03/2026

Power
To the
Poets
Shout out to bravenewvoices
Photo Cred 📸 Des Lee & gp!

📣 NEW HAVEN’S NEXT YOUTH POET LAUREATE COULD BE YOU!The search is officially on for New Haven’s 2026–2027 Youth Poet Lau...
09/03/2026

📣 NEW HAVEN’S NEXT YOUTH POET LAUREATE COULD BE YOU!

The search is officially on for New Haven’s 2026–2027 Youth Poet Laureate!

We’re looking for a young poet who is ready to use their words, creativity, and voice to represent New Haven and help demonstrate the power of poetry in our city.

To apply, you must:
✨ Be a New Haven resident
✨ Be between the ages of 13–19
✨ Submit a portfolio of 3 original poems
✨ Submit a CV highlighting your accomplishments, leadership, and civic engagement

Applications are due September 27th!

  🏆 And mark your calendars! The 2026–2027 New Haven Youth Poet Laureate will be officially announced on October 17th during Kulturally LIT’s annual LIT Fest at SCSU’s Engleman Hall! 🎉📚🎤  

🔗 RSVP link & Submission form in bio
📩 Questions? [email protected]

Know a young poet whose voice deserves to be heard? Tag them, send them this post, or share it with a parent, teacher, coach, librarian, or youth worker who can help us spread the word.

Not sure what a poetry CV is? Wondering which poems belong in your portfolio? We’ve got you.🙌🏽

The Word is offering FREE CV & Portfolio Workshops to help young poets prepare strong applications:

📅 Sept. 9 | 4–6 PM | Virtual
📅 Sept. 16 | 4–6 PM | In Person
📅 Sept. 23 | 4–6 PM | Virtual

Workshops will be led by The Word’s Artistic Director & New Haven Poet Laureate, Yex, and are open to young poets who want support putting their application materials together.

08/22/2026

Before opening ceremony. Before the competition. Before the championship. 🏆

On the day they arrived at Brave New Voices, we asked the CT Youth Slam Team what they were looking forward to most and what they hoped to take away from the experience.

Looking back now, knowing how the week ended, makes these answers hit a little different. 🥹

Hear what was on their minds before the festivities began and before they made history as BNV National Champions.🔥

08/21/2026

Flashback Fridays aren’t just for memories… they’re about honoring the connections that remain long after our poets “age out.”

Before sending this year’s CT Youth Slam Team off to Brave New Voices, we caught up with a few former team members to hear the gems they wanted to pass down to the next generation.

Listen to what our alumni had to say before the team made history by bringing home the National Championship. 🏆

08/20/2026

With all the recent love CT’s Youth Slam Team has been getting, we’re throwing it back this Thursday to where it all started!

Here’s a recap of the qualifier that determined our team AND crowned our Youth Grand Slam Champion.

Want to see how it all went down? The full video is LIVE on our YouTube channel now!

5 months ago, we began this journey with our top youth poets from the slam qualifier.3 months to write, revise, rehearse...
07/20/2026

5 months ago, we began this journey with our top youth poets from the slam qualifier.

3 months to write, revise, rehearse, and prepare three original group poems.

2 preliminary battles against some of the strongest youth slam teams in the country.

1 championship.

The first-ever Brave New Voices Championship for Connecticut’s youth slam team.

This journey was anything but easy. Our coaches and poets faced challenge after challenge. From roster changes up until the final possible week to navigating obstacles that demanded not just resilience, but advocacy. Along the way, we witnessed what happens when a community rallies behind its young people in real time.

This championship is a testament to professionalism, artistry, perseverance, and an unwavering belief in these young voices.

Shawn. Lucky. Lincey. Journey. Jayden.

You made us proud long before your names were announced as the 2026 Brave New Voices Champions.

You are alchemists. Wordsmiths. Visionaries. Revolutionaries. Catalysts for change.

To our Artistic Director, coaches, families, supporters, and funders… thank you for believing, investing, and standing with these young artists every step of the way.

Connecticut stood behind this team, and together, we brought the gold home. 🏆💛

Five months of writing. Five months of rehearsing. Five months of trusting one another, sharpening their voices, and pou...
07/19/2026

Five months of writing. Five months of rehearsing. Five months of trusting one another, sharpening their voices, and pouring their hearts into every poem.
And now... INK THEORY IS FINALS BOUND. 🖤🔥

Representing Connecticut at the 2026 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival in the Bay Area, these young griots have battled through prelims and earned their place on the finals stage. Their words, courage, and brilliance have carried them to this moment, and we couldn’t be prouder.

Now it’s time for our village to show up.
📺 Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM EST on the Youth Speaks YouTube Channel to cheer on Ink Theory as they compete for the Brave New Voices championship. The livestream link will be shared to our story as soon as it goes live.

No matter what happens tonight, these young poets have already made Connecticut proud. Let’s flood the comments, share the stream, and remind them they’re carrying an entire community with them.

Let’s go, Ink Theory! 💥🖋️

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New Haven, CT
06501-06540

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