High school students to compete in Poetry Out Loud

Staff Reports

The Contraband

High school students representing schools and libraries across Southwest Louisiana will come together on Thursday, February 11th, to compete for top honors at Poetry Out Loud’s annual Southwest Louisiana Regional Competition in the Benjamin W. Mount Auditorium at Central School at 6 p.m. The students who compete at the Regional level have already made it through the first round of competition at their schools or local library. DeRidder High School students Brenda Guzman, Ashtyn Hanna, and Leah Worley will compete with library finalists Mekenzie Peshoff and Claire Buchanan of Barbe High School, and home-schooled student Reigner Kane. The Poetry Out Loud program is facilitated regionally by the Arts Council of SWLA on behalf of the Louisiana Division of the Arts.

Poetry Out Loud began in 2005 when the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation formed a partnership to yield a program that would challenge high school students to study and memorize poetry in a competitive setting while building public speaking skills, confidence, and character. Community leaders will serve as judges for the competition.

The top three students at the Regional Competition will not only win prizes but will also go on to compete with students from across Louisiana at the State Competition in Baton Rouge, and the state winner will receive a cash prize and a stipend for his or her school for the purchase of poetry books. The National Competition will be held in Washington D.C. and will award over $50,000 in prizes and stipends, including a $20,000 cash prize for the National Champion.

For students to compete at Regional’s, the schools must have registered their own Poetry Out Loud competition with the Arts Council earlier this year. For more information on Poetry Out Loud or the Regional Competition, contact the Arts Council office at(337) 439-2787 or visit www.artscouncilswla.org.