High school champions from across New Hampshire will compete at the 2014 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud Championship, scheduled to take place in Representatives Hall at the State House on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m.
Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth,” will serve as master of ceremonies at the championship.
The statewide competition leads up to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, which take place April 28–30, in Washington, D.C., coinciding with National Poetry Month.
This marks the ninth year the program has been held in New Hampshire and nearly 10,000 students from 37 New Hampshire high schools are participating. Eleven students will ultimately compete at the state championship.
Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation competition for high school students and is initiated and funded through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Funds are provided to state arts agencies to implement Poetry Out Loud in high schools around the country. The N.H. State Council on the Arts sponsors the program in New Hampshire.
Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to compete for the national championship.
The state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for his or her school library. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends is awarded annually at the National Finals.
To learn more about 2014 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud, view visit nh.gov/nharts and click on the Poetry Out Loud button.
