Poetry Out Loud
Nearly 4500 high schools across the country and 112 high schools in Pennsylvania participate in the annual Poetry Out Loud (POL) national recitation contest! Your high school’s champion will participate in the regional finals; the regional champion will participate in the state finals. Our region includes Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, and Monroe.
Poetry Out Loud is a free program offered to every high school student in Pennsylvania. Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Studying literature, including poetry, practicing speaking, listening, language and reading skills strongly supports your district’s curriculum. You may see the teachers’ guide at: poetryoutloud.org/teachers-organizers
Getting Involved
- Complete the Intent to Participate form by December 6, 2023
- Go to Organizing A Contest | Poetry Out Loud
- Individual or groups of teachers, a school club, or the entire school may participate.
- Teachers can determine the extent of their participation. For example, this could include incorporating POL into a unit of study, offering the program as extra credit, after school program’s project, or use the lesson plans offered on-line teacher’s guide.
- Homeschooled or students unable to participate at a local school should contact their regional Poetry Out Loud coordinator to discuss other opportunities for inclusion.
- There must be one winner from your group or school who will participate in the regional contest at ArtsQuest.
What Must Students Do?
Choose a poem from the POL anthology to memorize and recite. Nearly 800 poems are online, some of the poems have been retired.
Go to: Search | Poetry Out Loud
- Recitations may not include props, costumes, or music. Some gestures and minimal movement may, however, be appropriate to a given poem.
Student Workshop
ArtsQuest will hold a student workshop for high school students that interested in participating in Poetry Out Loud. A PCA (Pennsylvania Council on the Arts) rostered artist will facilitate the workshop and lead students through discovering poems, learning memorization and performance techniques, boosting confidence, and bringing poems to life. More information is coming soon.
The Winner
Each winner will then participate in the regional contest scheduled for Wednesday, January 31, 2024, at 6:00pm at ArtsQuest.
- Participants will prepare three (3) poems to recite.
- The regional winner will participate in the state competition taking place in March.
More Information
- Please visit poetryoutloud.org
Complete the Intent to Participate form to register for the Regional Competition!
For General Inquiries, please click below.
Please contact Karley Schrey at kschrey@artsquest.org for more information.
