Student poetry competition to be held Sunday

Thirteen area high schools will compete in the regional Poetry Out Loud competition from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday in Academic Hall Auditorium on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

"I wish to encourage everyone to attend this competition. It is free and open to the public," said regional coordinator Delilah Tayloe, executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation and administered in partnership with state art agencies nationwide.

This year's participants come from Stoddard, Wayne, Bollinger, New Madrid, Butler, Perry, Pemiscot and Phelps counties.

Cape Girardeau Central High School and Jackson High School from Cape Girardeau County will also have contestants in the event.

The competition begins in the classroom, with winners competing in schoolwide and state-wide levels culminating with the national finals in Washington, D.C.

Last year more than $100,000 in prizes were awarded to students and schools at the national and state levels.

More than 200,000 students nationwide will be participating in Poetry Out Loud this year with 5,000 students from 43 Missouri schools.

Regional winners will travel to Jefferson City on March 13 to compete for the title of Missouri State Champion. The first-place school will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books for their school's library and the second-place school will receive $200 to purchase poetry books for their school's library.

The Missouri champion will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals on April 30 and May 1. At the national finals, winners receive $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends and a $20,000 college scholarship for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

Poetry Out Loud satisfies requirements for Missouri Show-Me Standards and NCTE English Language Arts Standards.

For more information on Poetry Out Loud, visit www.poetryoutloud.org.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127