The Australian Poetry SLAM is the largest writing and performance competition in the southern hemisphere.

With 32 heats in regions across the country, The Australian Poetry SLAM unearths thousands of new writers every year. The 2009 SLAM Champion, Sarah Taylor, a 60-year-old retired librarian from Newcastle, has now produced a book, CD and website and is touring internationally.

Omar Musa, a Muslim hip-hop artist from Queanbeyan, won the slam in 2008. In June 2010 he opened for Gil Scott-Heron in Munich.

Poetry slams began in Chicago in 1984. They were introduced to Australia in 1996 by two Chicago-born spoken-word artists, Miles Merrill and Phil Norton, who started running slams in the Sandringham Hotel in Sydney's Newtown. Prizes were twenty dollars and a bottle of Poet's Corner. Now, universities, schools, festivals and dozens of cultural institutions have held SLAM events, with the burgeoning interest spawning TV shows and feature films.

Following six months of hard-core heats - from Wagga to Lismore, Grenfell to Glebe - word slingers from around New South Wales will battle it out with their best two minutes of poetry, stories, lyrics and monologues for the State Final at the Richard Wherrett Studio.

Two winners from this State Final will then take on the mightiest, tightest spoken-word artists from all over Australia in the National Final of The Australian SLAM on the main stage of Sydney Theatre. Australia's SLAM Champion wins an all expenses paid trip to The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and a tour of China with the Beijing Bookworm International Writers Festival.

"The Australian SLAM is not a poetry reading," said Miles Merril, internationally acclaimed spoken-word performer and host of the National Final.

"It's more like Hilltop Hoods mashed with Obama, a line of Paul Kelly, a few pinches of Judith Lucy, and a test tube of Les Murray all vying for audience love."

If that doesn't sound like the recipe for an entertaining evening, I'm not sure what does. The State Final will be held on November 19 at 8pm, with the National Final on December 5 at 5pm. To hear these slamming beats, grab your beret and head to the Sydney Theatre (22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay).

Tickets can be booked through the Box Office on (02) 9250 1777 or via the Sydney Theatre website. All tickets are $25. For more information about the competition, visit the Australian Poetry SLAM website.