Margaret Mitchell House Announces 2014/2015 Poetry Out Loud

The Margaret Mitchell House and the Georgia Council for the Arts partner with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to present the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest.

This innovative program encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance of the written word. It incorporates the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the English and drama class. 

In the 2014‐2015 school year, Poetry Out Loud celebrates its tenth anniversary, reaching millions of students at more than 7,300 schools nationwide in the past decade.

Deadline to register a school for participation is December 19, 2014. Functioning much like a spelling bee, the Poetry Out Loud competition uses a pyramid structure that begins in the classroom. Winners of each classroom recitation competition advance to a school-wide contest, then each school’s top winner goes to a semi-final competition. Semi-final competitions take place locally in February 2015. Finalists from the semi-final competitions will advance to the state finals in March 2015. Finally, one Georgia winner competes at the National Finals in Washington, D.C. in April 2015.

State champions will advance to the National Finals, to take place on April 28‐29, 2015, in Washington, D.C.

Ashlie Robertson, a junior at Oconee County High School, took home the first place prize at the 2014 Georgia state finals and represented Georgia in Washington, D.C. at the national finals last May. Some 365,000 students from more than 2,300 high schools took part in the 2013–2014 Poetry Out Loud program.

Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to master public speaking skills, build self‐confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. “Ten years ago, we launched the first national Poetry Out Loud competition, and since then, nearly 2.5 million high school students have discovered the art of poetry recitation,” said Chairman Jane Chu. “Together with the Poetry Foundation, state arts agencies, local arts organizations, schools, and teachers, we are thrilled to encourage the next generation of poetry ambassadors."

"To memorize and recite a great poem of the past or present," said Robert Polito, President of the Poetry Foundation, "is to 'own' it in the most personal way ‐‐ in your body, your breath, and your spirit. Recitation is an interpretive act that is also creative and self‐transformative. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Poetry

Out Loud is now a vital aspect of the American educational landscape. It has enhanced the ways poetry is taught in schools and has created many future readers of classic and contemporary poetry. Perhaps the ultimate triumph of Poetry Out Loud is this realization of Whitman’s dream of ‘great audiences’ for ‘great poets’.”  

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered to provide administrative grants to state arts agencies and awards, and will coordinate the National Finals next April. With this support, the Margaret Mitchell House will target 13,000 high school students throughout the state of Georgia.

“Poetry Out Loud is a wonderful program that enables the Atlanta History Center and Margaret Mitchell House to go beyond our museum walls to connect with high school students statewide as they explore significant works of poetry,” said Kate Whitman, Atlanta History Center’s Vice President of Public Programs.

Additionally, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation provide state arts agencies with free, standards‐based curriculum materials for use by participating schools. These materials include an online poetry anthology containing more than 800 classic and contemporary poems, a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, posters, and video and audio on the art of recitation. Schools are welcome to download these resources at www.poetryoutloud.org.

How to Get Involved in Poetry Out Loud

If your school would like to get involved, we need to hear from you as soon as possible. For a high school to participate, one point person, or "school coordinator," at that location must commit to be the liaison between the high school and the state coordinator. 

To get involved, complete the  Poetry Out Loud Coordinator Form online at MargaretMitchellHouse.com/POL, or contact Emily Reece via email or phone at 404.814.4017. 

Prizes

The winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington D.C. 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, with one winner taking home a college scholarship for $20,000.

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