LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Arts Council, in partnership with Arkansas Heritage, is pleased to announce Arkansas Poetry Out Loud, the statewide poetry recitation competition, will be held virtually Friday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m.
High school students who won poetry competitions through their schools or educational groups will compete for the state title. The Arkansas champion will have the opportunity to compete at the national level for a chance to win $20,000 this spring.
Attending the virtual Arkansas Poetry Out Loud event is free and open to the public. It will be streamed on the Arkansas Arts Council’s Facebook page.
The host for this year’s event is Kai Coggin, published poet, author and 2021 Governor’s Arts Award recipient.
Judges for this year’s competition are:
Stacey McAdoo – 2019 Teacher of the Year, professional development facilitator and entrepreneur.
Leron McAdoo – Nationally recognized spoken word poet, artist, motivational speaker and educator.
Stacy Pendergrast – Education Research Coordinator for Arkansas PBS, writer and educator.
Jo McDougall – Poet Laureate of Arkansas from 2018-2021, Porter Prize Lifetime Achievement Award winner (2019) and mentor.
Arkansas Poetry Out Loud helps students develop their oration, presentation and creative skills while also increasing self-confidence and instilling a love of poetry. Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages youth to learn, appreciate and perform poetry.
A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies, the program offers free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country.
For more information about Poetry Out Loud, contact Matt Boyce, arts in education programs manager, at matt.boyce@arkansas.gov. Information about the program is also available online at www.arkansasarts.org.