Poetry Out Loud Back at MHS for the 10th Time

Poetry Out Loud is a is a national contest that encourages students to learn and appreciate poetry through memorization and performance. This is the 10th year of Poetry Out Loud at Madison High School. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered together to make this competition possible for high school students all across the United States. The program’s goal is to help students master their public speaking skills, increase their exposure to poetry, and learn about their literary heritage.

  This week at Madison High School the classroom level competitions begin. These competitions require students to recite their chosen poems in front of their English classes. At the classroom level, many teachers make participation mandatory and grade their students’ performances. Students can choose any poem from the Poetry Out Loud website to memorize and recite. Students are required to be judged according to the Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria. When a student is selected from his or her English class, that student will move on to the school wide competition in January, along with the other classroom winners. The student who wins the school wide competition will continue on to compete at the regional competition at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown on February 9th, 2016.

Last year, Denny Harrington (Class of 2015) won the school wide competition and continued on to compete at the state level at Princeton University. Denny will be returning to Madison High School this year as a judge.

Each winner of the state level receives two hundred dollars and an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. where the national competition will be held. Additionally, the state winner’s school will receive a five hundred dollar stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up in each state will receive a one hundred dollar prize, with two hundred dollars for his or her school library. At the national level, Poetry Out Loud winners receive a $20,000 reward.  

For more information about Poetry Out Loud, including the selected poems and evaluation criteria, visit their website: poetryoutloud.org