Every year in English class students are required to study poetry. Most of the time students resent the requirement. But what if they could win awards for reciting poetry in a competition?
Poetry Out Loud is a competition designed to encourage students to enjoy poetry. Set up in a pyramid elimination style, the competition begins with a wide base of competitors from schools all over the nation and eventually narrows down to a handful of poets at the national competition.
The winners at the sate levels receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Finals. The state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The Poetry Out Loud National Champion will be awarded $20,000, and the student’s high school will also received a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.
Competitors can either compete in the anthology recitation or the original work category. In the anthology recitation category, participants recite poems from the list of poems on the Poetry Out Loud website. In the original category, competitors recite poems of their own creation.
In pats years, Bob Jones has had several winners at a state level including Emmanuel Waddell, Jordan Coats, Nick Mecikalski, Kahdijah Thompson, Emily Bohatch, and Jessica Norman.
Emmanuel Waddell, Jordan Coats, and Nick Mecikalski have all won in the original recitation category . Bob Jones has never had student receive first place at state level in anthology recitation, but that could all change in this year’s upcoming competition.
Classroom competitions will start on October 7th. If you would like to compete but your class is not participating, contact Sheila Hadden, Bob Jones’ Poetry Out Loud organizer, in room B103.
To ease the nerves of those nervous about reciting, Brandy Panagos, creative writing teacher at Bob Jones, offers a bit of advice. “Remember that most of what the judges are looking for is in your vocal presentation.”
Panagos suggests that competitors try recording or videoing themselves reciting the poem in order to hear themselves and see what they look like while performing. “This can help you know what you need to improve on.”
“Acting a poem out is definitely over the top, but something as little as your voice inflection can make a world of difference,” states previous winner, Emily Bohatch. “Just be confident, understand your poem, and give it the voice it needs.”
When asked about what she took away from her experience with Poetry Out Loud, Bohatch mentioned that one of the things she learned was that sometimes the best poems aren’t actually poems at all. Her poem last year was originally a monologue.
Panagos mentions that she hopes her students have a better understanding of the musicality of poetry along with better poise when publicly speaking after participating in Poetry Out Loud.
“Students come to understand how people can be moved by word choice, language and presentation,” states Sheila Hadden. “Poetry, whether the student composes the poem or recites someone else’s poem, touches people’s hearts, moves them to act, makes them feel sorrow, happiness, pride, or just laugh out loud.”
Aspiring poets everywhere now have the chance to project their voice and portray their talent.
The Poetry Out Loud website offers plenty of tips and videos to help competitors prepare, along with the official rules, a list of poems, videos of some of last year’s recitations, and a list of prizes for each category. To learn more, visit http://www.poetryoutloud.org.
