King of Poetry, Father of Spoken Word Month & Founder of Chicago Poet Laureate Honor
LETS GET READY FOR THE 2026 NATIONAL SPOKEN WORD AWARDS
Our Vision
The National Spoken Word Awards was founded in 2017 by De'Andre Hawthorne aka Blaq Ice, an international award winning Spoken Word Poet from Chicago and the father of the Chicago Poet Laureate. He was instrumental in bringing the National Poetry Awards to Chicago in 2016, the 7th and final year of the National Poetry Awards. The end of the National Poetry Awards inspired the beginning of the NATIONAL SPOKEN WORD AWARDS.
The Grammys Of Spoken Word
The awards were created to honor American Spoken Word Artists and those international Spoken Word artists who have made an impact in the United States. The 1st annual Spoken Word Awards was held on Saturday September 2, 2017 in Chicago IL. The NSWAs will be held every year, the weekend of Labor Day, kicking off International Spoken Word Month. The nomination period takes place every year, starting April 1st (National Poetry Month), and ending the third Sunday in May.
The nomination period starts April 1st, the first day of National Poetry Month and goes until May 15th. The voting period starts June 1st until July 31st. Voting is done electronically, fairly and every Spoken Word artist has the same opportunity to get their fans and supporters to vote for them. You can vote once per device. The National Spoken Word Awards has done what no other awards show does, post the voting results, so that all could see the transparency and the integrity of the National Spoken Word Awards. Please visit our website at nationalspokenwordawards.com