For over 80 years, Iowa State’s Sketch magazine has served as a platform for student writers and poets to publish their work.

Sketch is a bi-annual publication. It relies solely on submitted material from students. The magazine publishes a compilation of ideas, art and emotions all told through black and white text.

Looking to diversify their current offerings to the Iowa State public, Sketch is planning on offering a vocal platform for students in the form of a slam poetry night.

“We get a lot of submissions of poetry for Sketch every semester,” said poetry board editor and sophomore in English Jocelyn Simms. ”After reading through so many, there is a lot of good stuff and I felt as though there [wasn’t] anything like this event on campus.”

Simms pitched the idea to the members of Sketch as a way for enthusiastic poets to share their messages with other students in a relaxed environment. 

The group is planning a slam poetry event. The tentative date is April 20. Sketch also plans to theme the night as a competition rather than just a reading.

“Obviously for this first event we plan to have it be free with sign ups for any student that wishes to participate,” Simms said. ”We’ll then have a panel of judges with a prize available at the end.”

Despite the competitive nature of the night, Simms and the rest of the Sketch team wants a welcoming environment to remain a priority.

“Food is always a big draw, so we’d serve refreshments and keep it casual, supportive and fun,” said Sketch president and senior in English Casey Baumberger.

A relatively small executive board of only ten students, both Simms and Baumberger hope the event can serve as a way to increase public perception of Sketch.

“We’ve been here forever but you talk to someone on campus and they have no idea who we are,” Baumberger said. “We were really popular in the 80s but things have changed since then, so we thought this could be a way for us to get the word out about submissions.”

In addition to submitting written material and art to Sketch, students can become involved through Sketch’s executive board. Described by Simms and Baumberger as “relaxed and fun”, the group prides themselves on letting students fill needs within the publication as they see fit.

The group sees Sketch as a great opportunity for students to try something new.

“I got involved because I got published in Sketch and thought it was really cool, so I applied and got on the member board,” Baumberger said. ”The last president left and I decided to be in that position because I liked what I did so much with editing.”

Students can expect more information on the Sketch poetry slam in the coming weeks with a mass email hoping to be sent as a method of poet registration. Sketch also encourages students to submit their works by March 31 to receive an opportunity to be published.