SA Poetry Slam 2026 State Final tops off a fabulous series!

After five stunning heats, the SA State Final of the 2026 Australian Poetry Slam took local spoken word performance to a new level. We saw ten brilliant competitive performances, a fabulous sacrificial poet, a world class guest, and previously unseen stagecraft from the SWSA crew in front of a packed house at Goodwood Theatre & Studios.

The scoring on the night was close. In the end, the winner was Maha, with runner-up, Miles Falahey. Congratulations to them both, who are now off to compete in the National Finals at the Sydney Opera House.

Congratulations to the other finalists: Ben Adams, Chelsea Avard, Conor Brown, Sahil Choujar, Jas, Lauren Ann, Solar and Sarah Rowe, all of whom performed work of the highest level.

Special thanks to sacrificial poet Megan Ellis and guest performer, current Australian Poetry Slam winner, Arantza Garcia Ferrand.

Stagecraft on the night was conspired and produced by SWSA team and volunteers: Tracy “Coogs” McNally (MC), Matthew Pankhurst (rules, hats and juggling), Carissa Fischer (bells, scores and grand entrances), Nadia Patterson (hats, dinosaurs, and missing persons).

Jazz Fechner-Lante took photos and Ian Gibbins took videos. Thank you to Matilda Bookshop for sponsoring our photography.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the SA Poetry Slam this year: venues, sponsors, audiences, our volunteers, and, of course, the poets. We look forward to doing it all again next year!