Students invited to compete in national poetry contest

JUNEAU — This semester, Alaska’s high school students have the opportunity to take their poetry-reading or writing skills to the national level.

Presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in partnership with Alaska State Council on the Arts and Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, students have until Oct. 15 to sign up for the 10th annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest will again include winners from Alaska this year.

Last May, Maeva Ordaz from West Anchorage High School was selected as the 2014 Alaska Poetry Out Loud champion and represented the state in the national finals. More than 3,500 Alaska students from 42 high schools took part in the Poetry Out Loud program last school year.

Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. It encourages the study of poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition, giving students an opportunity to master public speaking skills, build self‐confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

This year, the program anticipates reaching millions of students from more than 7,300 schools nationwide.

Alaska schools are invited to participate in classroom- and school-wide contests with winners advancing to a state competition in Juneau on March 10 of next year. State champions will advance to the final, national competition on April 28 and 29 in Washington, D.C.

Each state champion will receive $200 and an all expenses‐paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship. The state champion’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner‐up in each state will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in cash and school stipends at the national finals, including a $20,000 award for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

The National Education Association and the Poetry Foundation have partnered to provide grants for state arts agencies and awards and coordinate the national competition. The two organizations also provide participating schools with free, standards‐based curriculum materials, including an online poetry anthology containing more than 800 classic and contemporary poems, a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, posters, and video and audio on the art of recitation. Schools are welcome to download these resources at poetryoutloud.org.

Get involved

High school teachers interested in participating in Poetry Out Loud should know that the program takes one to three weeks, and is often incorporated into existing poetry units. High schools must register online at bit.ly/1nPHWC5 to participate. The Alaska State Council on the Arts will determine which schools are eligible to take part in the official Poetry Out Loud program. Schools that are not in the official program may conduct their own contests, however, using online resources.

The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council and Alaska State Council on the Arts will host informational teleconferences Sept. 23 and 30 for teachers, administrators and parents to learn about the program.

For more information, contact Kari Groven at pol@jahc.org, or visit poetryoutloud.org.