2026 Poetry Out Loud Hawai’i Final Set for February

Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) and the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) have announced that the 2026 Poetry Out Loud Hawai’i State Final will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 3pm. 

Thirteen high school students from across the state will participate in the Poetry Out Loud Hawai’i Final at Tenney Theatre at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in downtown Honolulu.

The event will be emceed by longtime Poetry Out Loud supporter, Ben Gutierrez, and is a free event open to the public. No tickets or reservations are necessary. Free parking is available, and doors open at 2:45pm. Participating students will be judged by an esteemed panel including Maya Soetoro-Ng, Walter Eccles, Cameryn Richardson, and Kalehua Fung, the 2022 Youth Poet Laureate.

Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and Honolulu Theatre for Youth and is a dynamic recitation competition for high school students that can help students improve public speaking skills, build confidence, and grow their appreciation for poetry. Student competitors recite works they memorized from the official program anthology provided by the NEA.

Since 2005, the national program has served more than 4.5 million students and 81,000 teachers from 20,000 schools across the country, creating community and connection through poetry. Hawai’i began participating in 2006 and over the years, more than fifty different public, charter, private schools and homeschool networks have participated representing Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Hawaii Island.

The winner of the Poetry Out Loud Hawai’i Final will receive $200, and the winner’s representing school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for their representing school to purchase poetry materials. The winner will also advance to the Poetry Out Loud National Semi-Finals in Washington, DC, this April to compete for the National Champion title and $20,000 grand prize.