Poetry Out Loud Scholarship Contest

Poetry Out Loud encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through exploration, memorization, and performance. The inspiration for this program is to promote poetry in both
the classroom and the community. Poetry Out Loud provides an entry point for many students to learn to love poetry and keep their favorite poems for a lifetime.

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation joined together to create Poetry Out Loud in 2004 and now, in partnership with state arts agencies, dynamic poetry recitation competitions are taking place in classrooms across the country.

To participate the official state and national competitions, schools must register with their
State Coordinator. Visit “State Contacts” on the Poetry Out Loud website to identify your
State Coordinator.

Poetry Out Loud starts in the classroom, with participating teachers using the Poetry Out Loud toolkit to teach poetry recitation and run classroom competitions. Following a pyramid structure, classroom winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. State competitions will take place by mid-March; the 2009 National Finals will follow on April 26-28.

The following prizes are offered for the official state and national competitions:

State Finals prizes
Winner: $200, plus $500 to school library for purchase of poetry books, and allexpenses-paid trip (with an adult chaperone) to Washington, DC, to compete at the National Finals.
Runner-up: $100, plus $200 to school library for purchase of poetry books

National Finals prizes
National Champion: $20,000
Second Place: $10,000
Third Place: $5,000
Fourth-Twelfth Place: $1,000
Schools of top twelve: $500

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that begins at the classroom level. To participate in this program, school teachers should visit http://www.poetryoutloud.org for program details.

Application Deadlines:

Varies

Maximum Amount:

$20000

Post to:

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