Poetry Out Loud to Host San Diego Regional Finals on Monday

The Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, managed in California by the California Arts Council and regionally, by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture in association with Write Out Loud, will present POETRY OUT LOUD, a national poetry recitation competition for high school students. San Diego Regional Finals take place this year on February 6th at 6:30pm. The event is free and the public is encouraged to join our student participants and their families in person or via live stream at https://youtu.be/XZGa9hL3CSU

Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about great poetry-both classic and contemporary-through memorization, performance, and competition. Since the program began in 2005, more than four million students across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud. For the 2023 Poetry Out Loud, students will present their recitations of works selected from the Poetry Out Loud Anthology of more than 1,100 poems. Performances are judged on criteria including voice and articulation, evidence of understanding, and accuracy. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have created free, standards-based curriculum materials to support Poetry Out Loud including a teacher's guide, lesson plans, an online anthology, posters, and video and audio on the art of recitation. Write Out Loud offers virtual poetry examination and performance workshops for students

The Poetry Out Loud competition has been administered locally by WRITE OUT LOUD since 2014. Under WRITE OUT LOUD's direction, the program has grown from serving one school to as many as nine schools in recent years. This year students are competing at the school and/or organization level and top performers will compete for a chance to represent San Diego at the California State Finals.

At this year's Regional Finals, poems will be presented by finalists representing: Academy of Our Lady of Peace, Bayfront Charter High School, Canyon Crest Academy, Eastlake High School, Pacific Ridge High School, and Valley Center High School, as well as an independent Write Out Loud group for students who's schools were not participating.

Judges for POETRY OUT LOUD include San Diego Poet Laureate, Jason Magabo Perez, Frances Gerke, Brandon Cesmat. Gina M Jackson, Jane Mushenetz, and Nicole Lewis.

The San Diego winner, who will continue on to the State Finals in Sacramento on March 19-20, 2023, will be announced at the end of the February 6th competition. The winner of the State competition will advance to the National Competition in Washington, DC May 8-10, 2023.

Photo Credit: Ken Jacques