Abby Bland Named “best Poet in Kansas City” via the Pitch
I’m the 2023 Best Poet in Kansas City by public voting! I’m incredibly thankful for everyone who took the time to vote, share, and give their support. Since I first started performing poetry in 2017, this little KC achievement has been on my bucket list as a performer.
How did this happen?
The Pitch runs an annual Best of Kansas City competition where the public can nominate and then vote for their favorite local creatives, businesses, and more. This year’s contest had a fun video game theme!
I was incredibly honored to be among the nominations for Best Poet/Spoken Word Artist this year. Including my good friend Bob Sykora, as well as Jessica Ayala and José Faust, who are incredible poets here in Kansas City.
How does the best of contest work?
Nominations were announced in the beginning of September and voting took place through the end of the month. On November 3rd, they announced the winners online and in a special double-length issue.
This is what the Pitch had to say in the online announcement:
“Thank you for nominating (in record-breaking numbers!) and then voting (by the hundreds of thousands!) for what makes your life delicious, enriched and simply better in KC.”
Best of contests are incredibly subjective, but being named the “best poet” in Kansas City is an honor and a reflection of my community of support more than anything. I’ve been working hard this year and this award is incredibly validating.
Next up I’m working on some new shows for 2024, some new manuscripts, and of course, working on taking Godzilla’s Not a Dinosaur on tour next summer to some new Fringe Festivals.
If you’d like to keep up with my work you can sign up for my newsletter.
You can also follow me on Instagram!