Montana Arts Council Announces Upcoming Poetry Out Loud State Finals

2021 events scheduled to take place virtually on Friday, March 12

• March 08 2021

PRESS RELEASE

March 5, 2021

Montana Arts Council is pleased to announce its upcoming Poetry Out Loud State Finals events, scheduled to take place virtually on Friday, March 12.

In existence since 2005, Poetry Out Loud—supported by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Poetry Foundation—has continually engaged and inspired high school students across the country through recitation performance contests at the local, regional, state and national levels. Through the program, students learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation, master public speaking skills, build their self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life, all while developing a passion for the spoken word.

Reciting poems chosen from an online anthology of more than 1000 works by noted contemporary poets and those from throughout history, students in grades 9-12 compete in contests that follow a model similar to that of the National Spelling Bee: students advance from classroom and schoolwide contests to regional competitions and then to the State Finals where participants will compete to represent Montana at the National Poetry Out Loud Finals.

The upcoming Montana Poetry Out Loud events will bring together ten students from around the state who will compete in two semi-final rounds, followed by one final round involving five finalists from whom a state champion will be chosen. Awards and placements are determined solely by the judges’ scores, based on the official Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria.

The Montana Poetry Out Loud State Finals competition will be held virtually, available for streaming March 12 via art.mt.gov/pol21, at the following times:    

March 12, 2021 at 4 p.m.     Semi-finals (10 students reciting 2 poems each)

March 12, 2021 at 7 p.m.     Final Round (top 5 students reciting a third poem & announcement of winners)    

The winner of the State Finals event receives an award of $200 and a chance to compete for the national championship, while the champion’s school receives $500 for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for their school. Access to the Montana Poetry Out Loud State Finals is provided free of charge and the public is welcome and encouraged to support our Montana youth.

For more detailed information on the above events or for further information on the program, contact Monica Grable, MAC’s Arts Education Director and Montana Poetry Out Loud Coordinator, at (406) 444-6522 or monica.grable@mt.gov. National Poetry Out Loud program details and resources are available at poetryoutloud.org.  

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