Find your voice through poetry! Build confidence, communication, empathy, close reading, and analysis skills.
Poetry Out Loud is a FREE 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. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies.
The 2023-2024 state participation data:
Number of Schools/Organizations – 32
Number of Teachers - 41
Number of Students - 565
Number of State Finalists – 14
Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 4.2 million students and 72,000 teachers from 18,000 schools and organizations in every state, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The program starts at the classroom/school or at the local level with an area organization. Students memorize existing works from the master anthology. Winners then may advance to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the national finals. Awards and placements are determined solely by the judges’ scores based on the Poetry Out Loud Evaluation Criteria. Non-school organizations, such as after school clubs, libraries, or non-profit organizations, may also choose to run Poetry Out Loud.
This competition is open to ALL 9th - 12th grade students from Caldwell, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union, and West Carroll.
This includes students from public, private and parochial schools, as well as students who are homeschooled!
Each winner at the regional level receives a monetary prize, travel expenses covered for state and a $200 gift for their school library. Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip (with an adult chaperone) to Washington, DC, to compete at the National Finals. The state winner’s school/organization receives $500 for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for their school/organization. At the national finals, a total of $50,000 in awards and school/organizational stipends are awarded annually including a $20,000 award for the National Champion, $10,000 for 2nd place, $5,000 for 3rd place, and $1,000 for 4th-12th places.
The Basics
- Open to students in grades 9 – 12.
- School/Organization Registration due December 13, 2024.
- Entry Competition must be Completed by January 15, 2025.
- Region 8 Finals will be held Thursday February 13th 2025 at 6:30pm in Biedenharn Recital Hall at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. (Coordinated by the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council)
- State Finals will be held Thursday March 13, 2025 at the Delta Grand Theatre in Opelousas, Louisiana.
- National Finals are TBD late Spring of 2025.
STUDENTS: if you would like to participate in Poetry Out Loud, but your school is not participating or you are a homeschool student not attached to a local homeschool community, please contact our Development Officer Abigail Handy at abigail@nelaarts.org - there are options in place to accommodate you!
Working With Your School
Poetry Out Loud may be incorporated into your class, club, group, or curriculum in many ways: an entire class, grade level, or school may participate as part of the curriculum or for extra credit, or clubs or after school/extra-curricular groups may participate. Write Out Loud is here to help you bring Poetry Out Loud to your school, library, club, or student group. We provide free workshops, guidance for students and teachers, contest coordinating, and judges.
Students unable to participate at their school or a local organization should contact our office to discuss other opportunities for inclusion in the state’s official competition. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9–12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. A Poetry Out Loud National Champion is not eligible to compete in future years. No student may be excluded from participating in Poetry Out Loud on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. More information on Poetry Out Loud rules and eligibility may be found at poetryoutloud.org.
