Wayne State College hosted the Plains Writers Series (PWS) and the 36th Wayne Poetry Slam on Nov. 17. The PWS and Slam were planned and organized by WSC Editing and Publishing students and Prof. Chad Christensen.

The PWS went from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Humanities lounge, where WSC Press authors William Trowbridge, Erik Campbell, Greg Kosmicki and David Wyatt read from their books, which were also for sale. The readings were live streamed on the Plains Writers Series Facebook page for students and faculty who couldn’t make it to the reading.

“It’s enjoyable and inspirational,” Wayne State junior Tana Buoy said of the PWS. “I love listening to (the authors’) works.”

The poetry slam was held at the Max Bar and Grill at 7 p.m. and went until roughly 11 p.m. There were four rounds to determine the results of the competition. Twenty-eight people signed up to compete in the slam, which was judged by Campbell, Kosmicki and Zach Drees.

WSC alum Sharon Cole served as the sacrificial goat for the slam. The sacrificial goat is a slammer who reads and gets scored, but is not counted in the competition. This is to warm the judges up and help ease the nerves of all the slammers.

“In light of the recent presidential election I encourage all of you, especially the females,” slam emcee Eddie Elfers said to the registered slammers, “to get up here and grab them by the poem.”

The first round featured all 28 slammers, the second round narrowed it down to eight, the third to the top four and the fourth determined the order in which the top four placed. Fourth place went to Vito Cole, third place to Stephanie Hempel, second to Sean Garner and first to Sadie Miller.

“All of their poems were amazing,” WSC junior Taylor Penn said at the slam. “It was one of the better slams.”

Donations for prizes for the top four came from Mike’s Foodtown, A to Z Creations, the Neary Foundation, Dairy Queen, Lutt Oil, Rain Tree, Miss Molly’s, Marci’s Hair Affair, Broken Antler, the On Campus Bookstore, Godfather’s, Runza, Swan Apparel, Logan House Press, State Nebraska Bank and Trust, Sigma Tau Delta and The Max Bar and Grill.

The next PWS will be December 8th at 1 p.m. in the Humanities lounge, and the fiction slam will be that same day at the Max Bar and Grill. The preliminary round of the fiction slam will begin at 5 p.m. Anyone wanting to participate should bring $5 and two short stories to read.