BUDDING poets from the University of Worcester showcased their talents in a national contest.
The UniSlam 2026 event saw the best university spoken-word poet teams go head-to-head, performing their own works in a bid to take home the title.
The University of Worcester team finished in second place.
Team captain, Aimee Kiernan, who is in the final year of her degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and has competed in UniSlam for the last three years, said: “I’m immensely proud of the team, and all the hard work and dedication we put into preparing for this event definitely paid off! It’s been amazing to share this journey together.”
The team comprised students all studying Creative Writing jointly with other subjects from across the Institute of Arts and Humanities – Aimee, Lizzie Arnold, Brynn Birks, Millie Hubble, Jaden Singh and Nikki Hardy, their mentor.
Facing teams that included semi-professional and published poets, the Worcester group saw themselves as underdogs.
The annual competition brings together teams of students from universities across the UK and Ireland for three days of masterclasses, talks and performance events alongside the prestigious varsity poetry slam tournament.
Competing against more than 20 other teams, the Worcester team successfully made it to the Grand Final where they beat teams from the University of East Anglia and Trinity College Dublin to secure second place overall.
The university has taken part in UniSlam annually since 2019, but this marks its best result yet. The students spent months preparing a mix of individual pieces and one group piece, most of which they performed entirely from memory.
Course leader in Creative Writing, Dr Ruth Stacey, added: “The university’s Creative Writing team is immensely proud of the team’s accomplishments this year. They performed with flair and poise. Their carefully crafted poems were emotive and engaging.”
