BBC Introducing and the broadcaster's poetry festival Contains Strong Language have teamed up on a new talent development scheme for spoken word artists, called Words First.
A total of 35 artists will be selected to take part, attending online workshops run by spoken word organisations Young Identity and Apples & Snakes. They will then write a new piece of poetry using what they have learnt at these workshops.
From there, a panel will select the eight best pieces, with the winners invited to perform at a Words First showcase as part of the Contains Strong Language festival in September.
Organisers say they a “looking for passionate people across the UK who are influenced by everything from poetry and lyricism to rap and hip hop, and who are keen to develop their skills”.
Anyone interested in taking part should upload a two minute reading of a piece of original poetry to the BBC Introducing uploader by 30 Jul. More details here.