Slam spectacle in Landau: Who will be the master of words in 2025?

Slam spectacle in Landau: Who will be the master of words in 2025?

The Rhineland-Palatinate State Championships in Poetry Slam will be held in Landau next year, more precisely on June 27th and 28th, 2025. This is the third time this event has taken place in the city, having previously been hosted there in 2012 and 2019. The event is organized by the Center for Culture and Knowledge Dialogue (ZKW) at the RPTU, headed by Prof. Dr. Anja Ohmer, and supported by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate as well as the Dieter Kissel Foundation and Sparkasse Foundation. The patronage lies in the hands of Prime Minister Alexander Schweitzer, which underlines the importance of the event. RPTU reports.

A total of 16 finalists from various cities, including Mainz, Trier, Koblenz, Kaiserslautern and Worms, qualified to demonstrate their skills. The competitions consist of two semi-finals that take place on the RPTU campus, followed by a grand finale in the Universum Theater Landau.

Rules and decision makers

The Poetry Slam participants must write their own texts and present them without props in a maximum duration of 6 minutes and 30 seconds. The audience decides the winner, which increases the interactivity and dynamism of the event. In addition to the main competition, a U20 competition will take place in Neustadt on May 16, 2025, in which young slammers can present their texts. The top three of them will receive the opportunity to take part in the national championship.

The moderation of the semi-finals is in the hands of Aileen Schneider, who became Hesse champion in 2022, and Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran, the German champion. The final will be moderated by Markus Becherer, a two-time national champion, who also opens the final with his own feature text.

Tickets and events

The final will take place on June 28, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the Universum Theater Landau, while the semi-finals will take place on June 27, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. in the RPTU. Tickets for the final are available in advance, while tickets for the semi-finals can only be purchased at the box office. For further information, the Center for Culture and Knowledge Dialogue (ZKW) is available at the email address anja.ohmer[at]rptu.de.

Special attention is also paid to the previous year. Anuraj Sri Rajarajendran, who won the national championship in 2024, will compete in the national competition in Bielefeld in November 2024. His contributions and those of his colleagues dealt with a wide range of topics, including fears of life and self-doubt. Participants such as Joshua Vogelgesang, Aileen Schneider, Jan Cönig and Marius Loy show the high quality and diversity of participants in the Rhineland-Palatinate slam scene. The Rheinpfalz reported.

To understand the dark roots of the poetry slam, it is worth taking a look at the history of this competition. Originating in Chicago in the 1980s, the form combined elements of classical poetry reading with the competitive spirit of a sport. These origins led to a culture that today is characterized by creative, powerful voices. Poetry Slam Food Explained.