Australian Poetry Slam Champion from NSW

Hip hop artist and poet Omar Musa from Queanbeyan has won this year's Australian Poetry Slam competition, held at Sydney Opera House last night. Poetry slam is a style of performed poetry which takes its influences from rap and hip hop. After the 18 state and territory finalists performed on topics such as going to the dentist and football, there was a tie between Omar Musa from Queanbeyan, south-east of Canberra, and Mark Lloyd from Western Australia. Mr Musa ultimately won the $5,000 prize. He says he hopes others will be inspired to write poetry. "I think we should keep encouraging events like this because in Australia I think sport and all that sort of thing is encouraged as opposed to intellectual activity and things like poetry," he said. "I think things like hip hop and slam poetry events are the kind of things that would reignite a love for the English language, which I think is often missing." More than 600 people entered this year's competition, many with political themes such as the global financial crisis, war and women's rights. Regina Sutton from the State Library says there has been a resurgence of interest in poetry. Read more about the contestants http://www.abc.net.au/local/features/poetryslam/default.htm