On April 30, 2026, twenty-two students from eleven high schools competed for the title of Grand Slam Champion at the annual Verselandia! Youth Poetry Slam Championship.
Our top five poets were: in fifth place, Carolina Alonso of Roosevelt High School; in fourth place, Diana Aispuro Camacho of Parkrose High School; in third place, Jo Gervais of Lincoln High School; in second place, Mila Gomes of McDaniel High School; and our 2026 Verselandia! Grand Slam Champion is Gio Calandrella of Grant High School.
Verselandia! is a celebration of Portland’s youth poets: a Grand Slam competition for winners of individual poetry slams held throughout the year by public high school librarians. The championship event was held at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and was hosted by poet and performer Julia Gaskill, co-founder of the monthly open-mic series Slamlandia as well as the annual Bigfoot Poetry Festival.
This year’s judges were D’Artagnan Caliman, the VP of Philanthropy & Partnership for the 1803 Fund; Scott Gallagher; Dawn Isaacs, the City of Portland Arts Education Program Manager; Marcus Lattimore; and Kim Melton, Vice President of Impact at Meyer Memorial Trust.
Verselandia! has the same rules as national poetry slams: Students’ poetry must be original work, each performance cannot exceed three minutes, and poets cannot use any props, costumes, or music. Verselandia judges use a scale of one to ten, rating both the writing and the performance on a scale of one to ten. Our top five winners received cash prizes.
