Sunday, 24 January 2021 – ONLINE COMPETITION

Argyris Loizou was declared for the second year running, the 2021 Cyprus National Poetry Slam Champion, and

Filip Koryta from the Czech Republic won first place in the 4^th Poetry Slam Cyprus 2021

Additionally, here are some awesome figures!
   32,023 people reached, unique (12 February 202)
    3,028 views (of the live event)
    724 followers on Poetry Slam Cyprus, and
    903 followers on Ideogramma Cyprus

The competition, the fourth edition, was held online due to the restrictions imposed by the current pandemic. It consisted of two rounds

In Part One, 14 poet slammers that replied to Ideogramma’s Open Call, competed for the title of the 2021 Cyprus National Champion:

Andreas Timotheou – Cyprus; Anna Tikhomirova – Russia; Argyris Loizou – Cyprus; Constantinos Papageorgiou – Cyprus; Hüseyin Bahca – Cyprus; Kathleen Ruddy – UK; Manuella Mavromichalis - Greece / Cyprus; Maria Kouvarou – Cyprus; Michael-Angelos Englezos – Cyprus; Nora Nadjarian – Cyprus; Sam Stewart – UK; Shreya Aneja – India; Sophia Kaniklidou – Cyprus; Soteria Kyrmanidou - Greece

The judges selected the following six finalists:

Argyris Loizou; Kathleen Rudy; Manuella Mavromichalis; Michael – Angelos Englezos; Sam Stewart; Sophia Kaniklidou

And at a second count the judges, declared the three winners

1. Argyris Loizou
2. Manuella Mavromichalis
3. Kathleen Ruddy

A novelty of this year’s competition was the addition of the Popular Vote. All watching, from anywhere and everywhere in the world, were able to vote the slammer they liked best and

•   The young poet slammer from India Shreya Aneja won the Popular Vote in Round One
•   And the young poet Slammer Sofia Kaniklidou won the Popular Vote in Round Two

In Part Two, the competitors were 12; six invited poet slammers: Filip Koryta – Czech Republic, Jonna Nummela – Finland, Katharina Wenty – Austria, Kevin Amse – Belgium, Sofie Frost – Norway, and Ze Mitsos – Greece, and the six finalists from Round One.

The judges selected the following six finalists: Argyris Loizou; Filip Koryta; Katharina Wenty; Kathleen Ruddy; Manuella Mavromichalis; Sofie Frost

And the three winners of the 4^th international Poetry Slam Cyprus 2021, are:

1. Filip Koryta
2. Kathleen Ruddy
3. Katharina Wenty

All participants competed with a videopoem, in the original language and with English subtitles

The competition was web streamed live on 3 Facebook pages in Cyprus:

• Poetry Slam Cyprus,
• Ideogramma
• Synergia Media

As well as on 4 other Facebook pages abroad:

• European Poetry Slam Competition, Maribor Slovenia
• Poetas Poetico in Spain
• Poetry Slam Greece, and
• Trends International Inc and Trends Events in India

The 5-member jury that decided the winners were:

Christos Tsailis, poet, assistant theatre director
Costas Mantzalos, visual artist, academician
Lea Maleni, theatre director and actor
Marilena Zakcheos, poet, academician
Pambos Kouzalis, poet, co-owner of the Parakentro Cultural Centre in Lemithou.

Maria Papacosta (in Greek) and Philip Kalas (in English) were the presenters of the competition.