Statewide Poetry Recitation Finals Begin This Week

Staff of the Maine Arts Commission will be in Ellsworth on Thursday, February 4, for the first of two regional finals of the Poetry Out Loud National recitation contest. Students from Maine high schools will recite classic and contemporary poems in front of a live audience at the Grand Auditorium between 3:00 and 6:00 pm.

Over 4,000 students from 32 high schools have competed in this year’s competition in Maine; over 350,000 began this competition across the nation.

We are now down to 32 school finalists who will face off in Ellsworth and Biddeford to fill the ten coveted spaces at the state finals in Waterville on March 5. The winner of the state final will receive $200, a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books for his or her school, and an all-expenses-paid trip (with a chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, DC, on April 26-27, 2010. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals will bestow a total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends, with a $20,000 prize for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

All Poetry Out Loud events feature live entertainment and are open and free for the public to attend. Please join us at one of the venues and enjoy the quality and mastery of Maine’s students for yourself.

You can watch highlights of last year’s contest on YouTube. A full list of participating schools and students is available on MaineArts.com.