Competing Teams: Whitney Young High School, Little Village North Lawndale High School, Simeon Career Academy, Evanston Township High School

Individual Poets: Olivia Shine (Nicholas Senn High School), Dawn Smith (Bowen High School), Diana Sarfo (St. Ignatius College Prep), Amanda Villaronga (Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School)

Competing Teams: Homewood Flossmoor High School, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Kenwood Academy High School, Noble Street Charter High School

Individual Poets: Nora Engel-Hall (InVerse), Kayla Polo (Mather High School), Emma Coleman (Northside College Prep High School), Christian Rivera (Roberto Clemente Community Academy)

Competing Teams: Oak Park and River Forest High School, New Trier High School, Jones College Prep, Maine West High School, Francis W. Parker School

Individual Poets: Doktor Germz, Nathalie Irmer, Jasmine Jones

Competing Teams: Percy L. Julian High School, East Leyden High School, Phoenix Military Academy, Kuumba Lynx

Individual Poets: Jordan Hurst (Providence Saint Mel School), Michael Hargrove (Westinghouse College Prep), Charles Davis (Urban Prep-Bronzeville High School), Megan Vinson (Merrillville High School)

The largest of its kind in the world, Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) is Chicago’s rapidly-growing teen poetry festival, this year which took place at various venues around Chicago beginning February 16 through to the finals on March 9, 2013. Aiming to bring teens together across racial, gang, and socio-economic lines, LTAB is a friendly competition that emphasizes self-expression and community via poetry, oral story-telling, and hip-hop spoken word.