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Wordsmiths dazzle at the BBCEdFest Poetry Slam

Now in its fifth year, the Poetry Slam has become one of the highlights of our annual programme of events at the Edinburgh Festivals. This year, 24 spoken-word artists travelled from across the UK and Ireland to compete, with the four heat winners advancing to the Grand Final, which took place in front of a full house in our big Blue Tent at our site at George Heriot's School.

2015 champion Scott Tyrrell kicked off the show with a poem to get the crowd warmed up, before the finalists took to the stage.

Scott Tyrrell: Bad Dad!

The 2015 BBC Poetry Slam champion gets into trouble at the shops.

You can find Scott over on Twitter as @ScottyTyrrell, and check out his winning performance from 2015.

Ben Norris and Michelle Fisher were two of our four fantastic finalists...

Ben Norris: Barafundle bundle

A reflection on touching from the BBC Poetry Slam at the Edinburgh Festivals.

Ben's one-man show The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family is touring the UK over the next two months and he tweets at @BenNorris7.

Michelle Fisher: Picture the vast unknown

The poet shares her thoughts on Britain today at the BBC Poetry Slam in Edinburgh.

Michelle is a Scottish writer and spoken word artist and you can follow her at @michelle_writer.

Before the final round, the crowd was treated to a special performance by American lyrical superstars B. Dolan and Sage Francis.

B. Dolan - Still Electric

The rapper makes a foray into spoken word at the BBC Poetry Slam final in Edinburgh.

Sage Francis - Hopeless

The independent hip-hop star performs at the BBC Poetry Slam in Edinburgh.

Sage Francis and B Dolan are in Edinburgh with their joint show Strange Speech, Famous Development. Catch it at the Stand in the Square.

The final round saw poets Malaika Kegode and Adele Hampton go head-to-head...

Malaika Kegode: I tried to stop writing about you

Love and pain in this performance from the BBC Poetry Slam at the Edinburgh Festivals.

Malaika is the creator and host of Milk Poetry, a regular spoken-word night in Bristol. She tweets at @malaikafkeyode and you can find more of her work on her SoundCloud page.

Adele Hampton: Speak your own melanin into a mirror

The poet explores her mixed-race roots at the BBC Poetry Slam at the Edinburgh Festivals.

...and when the judges' scores were tallied, Adele was declared the 2016 BBC Poetry Slam Champion!

More from BBC at the Edinburgh Festivals

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