The London Moth StorySLAM

Running Time: 2 hours approx with an interval

Prepare a five-minute story about having the nerve. Going boldly where nobody has gone before. Standing up for what you believe in and facing your fears and challengers. Tell us about the time that you let your inner lion roar!

The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling, and a recipient of a 2012 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions (MACEI). Through its ongoing programs—The Moth Mainstage, The Moth StorySLAMs, The Moth Community & Education Programs, and Moth Corporate Programs—The Moth has presented more than ten thousand stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded nearly 25 million times a year, and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour, produced by Jay Allison and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, airs weekly on radio stations nationwide. The new Moth Mobile App for iOS and Android, and the national bestseller, The Moth: 50 True Stories (Hyperion), are available now. themoth.org

How it Works:
6:00pm: Sign up to tell a story, volunteer to be on a judging team or just sit back and listen.
6:30pm: We’ll pick the first name and the show will begin. Each teller will have 5 minutes to tell his or her tale. After each story, the judges confer and give a score. The teller with the highest score becomes our StorySLAM winner. The winner will compete with the year’s other winners in our next GrandSLAM Championship.

Be Forewarned:
The Moth is for TRUE STORIES. OK, there won’t be a fact-checker there, and the FBI probably won’t dig into your files to verify the names and dates and places, but please know, emphatically, The Moth is not for fiction stories. The tiny fictions and lies we tell ourselves ARE part of our “true stories,” but fabricated people, places or events are not allowed.

The Moth is NOT a venue for readings; it is a venue for tellings. No notes, papers, or cheat sheets allowed. Contestants are judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, sticking to the theme and having a story that sticks — one that has a conflict and a resolution.

And lastly, while fresh stories are preferred, The Moth understands that there can be power in the telling and retelling of stories. If you decide to retell a story at The Moth, we ask you to wait at least a year and rework a significant amount of the story before doing so.

Story Tips:
No stand-up routines please. The Moth LOVES funny people but requires that all funny people tell funny STORIES.