Congratulations, Matthew Valentine!

Olympia High School senior Matthew Valentine has recited his way to 2023 Poetry Out Loud champion for Washington State. Matthew will go on to compete in the National Finals, May 8-10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Congratulations, Matthew!

We should also note that the Oregon Poetry Out Loud champion is Kari Morgan, a junior at Oregon School for the Deaf. Congratulations, Kari!

registration is open

Poetry Out Loud is a wonderful, nationwide poetry recitation program for students in grades 9-12. Students select and memorize poems from the Poetry Out Loud print or online anthology, then compete on the school/local level. Winners advance to State competitions, and those winners compete in the National finals in Washington, DC. “Homeschooled students may participate by competing in a contest at a local school (at the school’s discretion) or with other local homeschooled students.” See the Rules & Eligibility guidelines.

The Registration deadline is Friday, November 18, 2022. For more information, contact your school or the Poetry Out Loud state contact:

• Alaska
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Washington
• Wyoming

See the complete list of Poetry Out Loud State Contacts for states outside the Cascadia bioregion.

state champs

Congratulations to all the students who competed and to the students who won in the latest round of the 2022 Poetry Out Loud contest. Here are some of the Cascadia-region winners:

WASHINGTON
State Champion: Lucy Shainin from Anacortes High School (Lucy was also State Champion in 2021!)
State Runner Up: Kate Gemmell from Kamiakin High School
State Finalist: Serena Jensen from Bickleton High School

OREGON
State Champion: Trayshun Holmes-Gournaris from Oregon School for the Deaf
State Runner Up: Maria Daniels from St. Stephens Academy

ALASKA
State Champion: Nicolai Chavez from Whitestone High School
State Runner Up: Madelynne Brehmer from North Pole High School

IDAHO
State Champion: Seth Hill from Classical Christian Academy

MONTANA
State Champion: Rachel Campbell from Chrysalis School
Second Place: Zoe Belinda from Red Lodge High School
Third Place: Ellis Mastel from Red Lodge High School

State winners will now advance to the national Poetry Out Loud competition, with semifinals to be held virtually on May 1, 2022, and finals on June 5. Both the semifinals and finals will be streamed at arts.gov.

CONGRATULATIONS one and all!

Poetry Out Loud

It’s Poetry Out Loud season, and high school students throughout the country are memorizing, practicing, reciting, and wrapping up local competitions. State finals will take place in late February and early March; some will be in person, some virtual. Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho state finals will be held March 12, March 11, March 5, and March 12, respectively (details on the Key Dates page).

We congratulate the Washington State Regional Champions, who will compete in the State finals on March 12:

CENTRAL

• Kate Gemmell – Kamiakin High School, Kennewick, WA
• Serena Jensen – Bickleton High School, Bickleton, WA

EASTERN

• Bela Moore – Methow Valley ILC, Twisp, WA
• Malina Weigel – Okanogan High School, Okanogan, WA

NORTHWEST

• Lucy Laybourn – Lincoln High School, Seattle, WA
• Lucy Shainin – Anacortes High School, Anacortes, WA (back for another round! Lucy was the 2021 Washington State Poetry Out Loud champion)

SOUTHWEST

• Sinai Flores – North Thurston High School, Olympia, WA
• Josie Rinta – Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, WA

POL VIRTUAL

• Isabel Bennett – Colville, WA

finals

There are no Cascadia-region students among the 2021 Poetry Out Loud finalists, but today’s National Finals should still be inspiring. Tune in to the webcast this evening, Thursday, May 27, 2021, at 4:00pm Pacific (7:00pm Eastern) as the young competitors give their all to be the 2021 champion.

A total of $50,000 in awards and school or organizational stipends include a $20,000 award for the National Champion, $10,000 for 2nd place, $5,000 for 3rd place, and $1,000 for 4th–9th places. The representing schools/organizations of each of the top nine finalists receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials.

Congratulations, Lucy!

Heartfelt congratulations to Lucy Shainin of Anacortes High School, who is the 2021 Washington State Poetry Out Loud champion as well as the inaugural Anacortes High School student poet laureate for the Skagit River Poetry Foundation. Following her win in the the March 16 State POL Finals Lucy will compete in the May 2, 2021, National Semi-finals and, we hope, the championship round on May 27.

Congratulations to all the students who selected, memorized, and recited poems in this year’s virtual Poetry Out Loud.

rethinking a contest

“Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country.” Students memorize poems, practice their delivery, and compete with one another on the classroom, school, state, and national level.

Not surprisingly, the 2020-2021 POL season will look a lot different from that of previous years. Though a date has not yet been set, POL has already announced that the National Finals will take place in spring 2021 as a video submission-based competition. POL is encouraging teachers and organizers at all contest levels to hold virtual competitions and have posted downloadable Poetry Out Loud Virtual Competitions & Filming Requirements (PDF).

Do you recall poems you memorized in school? The words can last a lifetime. If you have a high school student in your life, visit Poetry Out Loud, browse the poems, watch for deadlines, and consider memorizing a poem yourself!

a line, a stanza, a poem

 
As long as you’re just sitting there, how about memorizing a poem? You could start with one of your own, or an old favorite, or select a poem from the huge catalog at Poetry Out Loud.
 
Not sure? Here are a few articles that might help you make up your mind:

• “Now Is the Perfect Time to Memorize a Poem” by Matthew Schneier, New York Magazine
• “Memorize That Poem!” by Molly Worthen, The New York Times
• “Ode to the poem: why memorising poetry still matters for human connection” by Veronica Alfano, The Conversation
• “The greatest honor for a poet is to be memorized and recited” by Dave Lucas, Sandusky Register
• “How to Memorize Scripts, Poems, Verses” by Michelle Golden, wikiHow
• “How to Memorize a Poem” by Bob Holman & Margery Snyder, ThoughtCo.
• “Why We Should Memorize” by Brad Leithauser, The New Yorker
• “Why Memorizing Stuff Can Be Good For You” by Natalie Wexler, Forbes

Start now and you could be ready to recite at your next reading… or party… or Zoom get-together.
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Poetry Out Loud

Once again, it’s Poetry Out Loud season and that means students from over 65 high schools around Washington State have been learning, memorizing, and performing poems. The seven regional finals are now over and the top 13 students will move on to the state final on Saturday, March 2, 2019, at 1:00pm at Tacoma Arts Live / Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, in Tacoma. Produced by ArtsWA, the event is free and open to the public.

The top student from the state final will receive a cash prize of $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, (with a chaperone) to represent Washington State in the National Finals, April 29 – May 1, 2019. The state winner’s school also receives $500 for the purchase of poetry books. The runner-up in the state competition receives $100, with $200 for his or her school library. Additionally, $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends are awarded to the winners at the National Finals.

Click for information on Poetry Out Loud in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.

Isaac Lu: WA Poetry Out Loud champ

Congratulations to Cedar Tree School junior Isaac Lu, who has been named 2018 Poetry Out Loud State Champion. Lu earned the honor of representing Washington State at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, to be held April 23-25, 2018, at the Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University. Watch him recite “A Thank-You Note” by Michael Ryan on YouTube.

Rising to the top from a competitive field of over 18,000 students from 66 schools across the state, Lu was among the 13 regional Poetry Out Loud champions who competed at the State Final held March 10, 2018, in Tacoma.

Although he had competed in Poetry Out Loud before, this was the first time Lu made it through regional to the state competition. He credits his success to his choice of poems and the work he did to try to understand what the poems meant.

Janelle Thirtyacre, a senior at Eatonville High School in Pierce County, was named first runner-up. Honorable mentions went to Addi Garner, a senior at Anacortes High School in Skagit County (and last year’s state champ); John Jones, a senior at Rainier High School in Thurston County; and Mackenzie Woodworth, a senior at Liberty Bell High School in Okanogan County.

As the Washington State Champion, Isaac Lu will receive an award of $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete at the national championship. Cedar Tree School will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. First runner-up Janelle Thirtyacre will receive $100, with a $200 stipend going to Eatonville High School’s library.