Henry Morray ’23 has been crowned the 2025 Slamovision Global Poetry Slam Champion, captivating international audiences with his poetry.
Slamovision is the spoken word version of Eurovision, hosted by the UNESCO Cities of Literature, where each city slams its way to the grand title Slamovision Champion. The final results were shared as part of an event hosted on Thursday, Nov. 6, by the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature. Morray, Iowa City’s representative in the competition, was one of 17 poets from Cities of Literature around the world who took part in the competition. Each city selected one poet to participate and submitted a video of their performance. Morray heard the news that he had won the competition while watching the livestream event in Ireland.
“I had hoped for this very moment, yet hearing it felt unbelievable,” Morray said. “It didn’t register immediately, but euphoria quickly followed along with a standing ovation from my workplace once they heard the news. I am so honored and grateful to have been named the 2025 Slamovision Global Poetry Slam Champion.”
Morray became Iowa City’s representative to the international competition by winning the local Iowa City slam on Sept. 9 at Public Space One’s Close House. A video of his winning poem was submitted and then scored by the other participating cities. Each city ranked its top 3 poets from the other 16 cities of literature, assigning 14 points to third place, 15 to second, and 16 to first. At the end of voting, Morray sat atop the list with 218 points.
Morray is a spoken word poet born in Maryland and raised in Iowa. Morray graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor’s in product development and marketing. It was on the Hilltop that he discovered his passion for poetry, becoming the president of the spoken word and poetry club: Lyrically Inclined. In his senior year, Morray became Iowa City’s 2022 Champion for Slamovision.
“Growing up, I always loved reading, writing, and public speaking, but ironically, I was never interested in poetry,” Morray said. “It wasn’t until I was invited to a Lyrically Inclined meeting by Armani Rogers ’21, also known as Koifsh, that my paradigm of spoken word and poetry began to shift. Then, when I met the new students like Sara Decker ’25 and Emily Bjerke ’24, my brain started to unlock new possibilities. Once I started writing in free verse, I started to find my voice, and the storyteller in me emerged. Cornell provided me with the resources, the vision, and most importantly, the community to both discover and explore my love of poetry. And for that, I am forever grateful.”
Morray currently lives in the Quad Cities, where he works at an industrial packaging company as an accounts payables and receivables administrator. He also serves as the Board Secretary for Society for Youth, a creative educator for Young Lions Roar, an emcee for The Roaring Rhetoric Open Mic, and a co-producer and co-host of Furious Flowers: a monthly spoken word and music series in Cedar Rapids.
"My growth as a poet is in lock step with my growth as a human being," Morray said. "So, I am additionally immensely grateful for my time at Cornell serving as both vice president of BACO and a leader and coordinator for Each One Teach One and International Student Orientation. I cherish the experiences, lessons, and friendships I gained through those programs, which helped shape me into the poet, human, and global citizen I am today."
Other participating Cities of Literature were Bremen, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Exeter, UK; Gothenburg, Sweden; Heidelberg, Germany; Iowa City; Kozhikode, India; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Manchester, UK; Melbourne, Australia; Nottingham, UK; Odessa, Ukraine; Quebec City, Canada; Reykjavik, Iceland; Tartu, Estonia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Wroclaw, Poland.
“I’ve received so much love and outreach from Slamovision finalists abroad as well as other writers and poets from around the world,” Morray said. “What I value the most about winning Slamovision is the community of international writers and poets it has connected me to, as well as the sprouting seeds of new friendships planted.”
The winner’s city hosts the next year’s final event, so Iowa City will host Slamovision in 2026. This will be the first time the competition will be hosted in the U.S.