PROGRAMS
Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA)
The Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA) is an annual poetry competition founded by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) and open to all Illinois residents over the age of 18.
The top contestants selected by guest judges from the poetry community are invited to perform their original poems at the live finals event, where the audience favorite is awarded the $500 prize.
GBOMA 30th Anniversary Celebration
The Guild Complex will celebrate thirty years of the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards (GBOMA), with performances from past winners along with a special celebration of the 75th anniversary of Gwendolyn Brooks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Annie Allen, at the Chicago History Museum in the Robert McCormick Auditorium. Reception at 6:00pm and 7:00pm event start.
This event is free and open to the public, but you must RSVP in advance to reserve your seat. To get your ticket and more information regarding the 30th anniversary GBOMA event, visit the ticket link below.
About
GBOMA
In 1994, Illinois Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks began talking to the Guild Complex about creating a contest in which Illinois poets would read their poetry to win a cash prize. She wanted a way to encourage people to write poetry and share it with others. The Guild, which already had a long-standing relationship with Gwendolyn Brooks, loved the idea and immediately worked to make it happen. In June of that year, Gwendolyn Brooks sat in the audience of the first Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards. A total of 76 poets read in a program that took 3.5 hours. She listened to every poem read. When the winner was selected, she walked up to the stage, pulled a checkbook out of her bag, and personally wrote the winner the check for $500. Since then, the Guild Complex has run the awards every year and ensures that they remain welcoming, inclusive events that celebrate a wide range of styles and poets from across the state of Illinois.
