Towanda, PA — The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation present Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and The Bradford County Regional Arts Council. Poetry Out Loud is a program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Starting in the fall of 2009, schools in every region of Pennsylvania participated in classroom and school-wide contests. The school-wide winners advanced to regional competitions and those winners will move on to the state competition on March 15, 2010. State champions will advance to the National Finals, to take place April 27, 2010, in Washington, DC. The Bradford County Regional Arts Council implemented one of the regional competitions on Friday, February 5, 2010 at the Keystone Theater in Towanda, PA. Participating students who reached the regional contest are:

Athens High School – Sam Ellis

Bloomsburg Home School – Judson Greene

Montgomery High School – Kira Kitchen

Towanda High School – Joseph Martin

Tunkhannock High School – Charley Ruddell

Williamsport High School – Kelsey Metz

Wyalusing High School – Levi Fenton

Judges for the competition were: State Representative Tina Pickett, Carimar Patrician - Bradford County Regional Arts Council Board Member, Fiona Powell - PA Council on the Arts Directory of Teaching Artists (Storyteller/Folk Arts), and Larry Bassett - PA Council on the Arts Directory of Teaching Artists (Writer/Poet).

First Place –Judson Greene (Bloomsburg Area – home school); The Bradford County Regional Arts Council presented the winner with a book of poetry, CD and a workshop with PCA Directory Artists Fiona Powell, and Larry Bassett to prepare him/her for the State Competition. The winner will also receive an all expense paid trip to Harrisburg for the State Competition from the PA Council on the Arts.

Second Place – Sam Ellis (Athens High School);

Third Place – Levi Fenton (Wyalusing High School).

The second and third place winners both received a book of poetry & CD from the Bradford County Regional Arts Council.

The NEA and the Poetry Foundation provided the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Bradford County Regional Arts Council with free, standards-based curriculum materials for use by participating schools. These materials include print and online poetry anthologies, a program guide to help instructors teach recitation and performance, and an audio CD featuring well-known actors and writers. Program materials are available for download on the website, www.poetryoutloud.org, which offers additional resources.

Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends at the National Finals, with at least a $20,000 college scholarship for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

Each winner at the state level will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship. The state winner’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books and the classroom teacher of each winner at the regional competitions will receive a book of Pennsylvania poetry by Pennsylvania poets. One runner-up in each state will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. 

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, has embarked on an ambitious plan to bring the best poetry before the largest possible audience. In the coming year, the Foundation will launch a major new poetry website and sponsor an unprecedented study to understand poetry’s place in American culture. Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Harriet Monroe’s "Open Door" policy, set forth in Volume I of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is a state agency under the Governor’s Office.  Its mission is to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania, and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state. In 2004, the agency was named among government’s top 50 "Best and Brightest" in the Innovations in American Government Awards, a national competition recognizing superior and unique programming initiatives within the public sector.

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