Poetry Out Loud Results

The final state level event, organized by the Maine Arts Commission, for Poetry Out Loud in Maine took place on Friday, March 11 at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, Maine.

After surviving classroom, school wide and regional level competitions, ten state finalists gathered in Lewiston to compete for the title of state champion and the opportunity to represent the State of Maine at the National Poetry Out Loud competition on April 27-29 in Washington, D.C.

After three rounds of recitations the judges selected Lulu Hawkes from Catherine McAuley High School as the 2011 State Champion and Morgan Wiggan from Thornton Academy as the State Runner-Up. Both students will receive cash awards and their schools will receive prize money to purchase poetry books for their libraries.
Lulu Hawkes

In addition Ms. Hawkes will receive an all expenses paid trip for two to the National Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, D.C., where she will compete for the national title and $50,000 in cash prizes including a grand prize of $20,000. All prizes, as well as all materials for running this popular program in high schools across the nation come directly from the National Endowment for the Arts and their partner in Poetry Out Loud, the Poetry Foundation.
Morgan Wiggin