A 12-year-old student from Newcastle has won a national poetry competition after only recently discovering slam poetry, demonstrating how young performers are using spoken word to explore major social issues and changes in everyday life.

Blake Mackenzie was named the 2026 Youth Champion at the Australian Poetry Slam finals, held at the Sydney Opera House. His achievement followed an introduction to slam poetry by his Year 6 teacher just two months before the national competition.

Mackenzie’s teacher recognised the quality of his first poem and encouraged him to enter a competition. He progressed through his local Newcastle heat and the New South Wales state final before securing a place at the national event.

At the finals, he performed two original works. I Love My Country explored racism and inequality in Australia, while Dear Chat GPT reflected on artificial intelligence and its growing influence on everyday life. His performances earned him the youth title and an opportunity to share his writing with a national audience.

Mackenzie described the experience as a dream, explaining that the excitement of performing on such a prominent stage left him full of adrenaline. Despite being new to the art form, he demonstrated how personal observations and contemporary issues can become powerful performance pieces.

The competition also crowned Bivor, an environmental consultant and poet who lives in Alice Springs, as the 2026 Adult Champion. Originally from Bangladesh, Bivor moved to Australia three years ago and was encouraged to pursue slam poetry by Laurie May, executive director of Red Dirt Poetry.

Bivor performed two poems, Ourselves and Politics Is Doing You. His work encouraged audiences to think critically about identity, society and political literacy. His victory highlighted the diversity of voices represented in contemporary Australian spoken-word poetry.

The two champions will share a prize package valued at $20,000. It includes publishing opportunities and invitations to perform at writers’ festivals in Australia and overseas as the 2026 Australian Poetry Slambassadors.

Slam poetry is a competitive form of spoken-word performance that developed in Chicago during the 1980s. Unlike traditional literary competitions, it places strong emphasis on how a poem is delivered as well as the writing itself. Contestants typically have two minutes to perform, and audience members selected as judges award scores based on literary quality, performance and emotional impact.

The format allows writers to communicate directly with audiences without necessarily going through publishers or literary institutions. Performers can draw on personal experiences, cultural backgrounds and current affairs to create work that connects with people from different communities.

Former Australian champion Arantza García Ferrand has emphasised the importance of balancing strong writing with engaging delivery. A successful performance needs both an effective message and a compelling way of communicating it.

Mackenzie’s achievement also shows how schools can introduce students to creative opportunities that build confidence, communication skills and critical thinking. His poem about Chat GPT brings a particularly current subject into the competition, reflecting the growing presence of AI in education and daily life.

The 2026 finalists demonstrated that spoken-word poetry remains an accessible way for people of different ages and backgrounds to share ideas. Through their performances, Mackenzie and Bivor brought questions of fairness, technology, identity and political awareness to the stage.