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About the Program
Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud was created in partnership by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundationwith the collaboration of State Arts Agencies as a way to foster the next generation of literary readers by building on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the popularity of rap music. Through Poetry Out Loud, students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Contest structure The Poetry Out Loud contest uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the high school classroom level, teachers implement a two-to-three week curriculum using free, standards-based materials including print and online poetry anthologies containing more than 500 classic and contemporary poems, a teacher’s guide, and a CD on the art of recitation. Classroom studies culminate with a contest in which each student selects and recites poems from the Poetry Out Loud anthology. Classroom winners advance to school-wide recitation competitions, and school champions advance to regional and state competitions, and ultimately to the National Finals. The 2009 Poetry Out Loud National Finals will take place on April 28 at the George Washington University Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. Prizes and awards Each Poetry Out Loud state-level final competition will award $1,000 in cash prizes. Each champion at the state level will receive $200 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship. The state winner’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The second-place finalist 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 scholarship prizes and school stipends at the National Finals, including $20,000 for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion, and $10,000 and $5,000 for the second- and third-place finalists. The remaining nine finalists each receive $1,000, and the schools of the top 12 finalists each will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books. In total, Poetry Out Loud will award more than $100,000 at state- and national-level contests. History The Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation implemented a pilot program in Washington, DC- and Chicago-area schools in 2005. Starting with the 2005-2006 school year, Poetry Out Loud has presented a national competition, reaching high school students in every state and the District of Columbia. In 2008, the U.S. Virgin Islands joined the nationwide competition. An estimated 225,000 students from more than 1,500 schools participated in the 2007-2008 Poetry Out Loud competition. National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal
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