Scoring methods
For preliminary rounds poets choose their order randomly for the first rotation of each bout. The second rotation is based on the scores from the first rotation with the top score going first in the second rotation and the lowest score going last.
The first round rotations consist of a 4 minute poem first and then a 1 minute poem. The second round rotations on the next day are 2 minute poems first and then 3 minute poems in the second rotation. Thus each contestant will have a total of 4 scores for the preliminary rounds. Poets will be ranked by their performance after each rotation, thus they will have four ranks and four sets of points. All points and ranks are added together for a total rank and total score. The top 12 poets with the lowest ranks and the highest cumulative scores will advance to the final round on Saturday.
Final round will be on Saturday. The 13th poet will be asked to be the calibration poet for Finals. The poets will draw for their first rotation of Finals randomly.
Final round will be clean slate, in that their cumulative scores from the preliminary rounds will not affect their scores on Finals night at all. The time limit for poems during Finals is 3 minutes. In the first rotation, poets will read 1 poem each. The top 7 scores will advance to the next round. Those 7 poets will draw randomly again for performance order.
The top 4 scoring poets will advance to the final rotation, where poets will read a final poem to be scored. The score of the final poem determines the champion. Money and trophies will be awarded to the top four poets overall.