Poetry contest Thursday

Thursday, February 16, 2012

AMHERST – Eighteen finalists were scheduled to compete Feb. 16 in the final round of Souhegan High School’s school-wide Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest.

The competition begins at 7 and is free and open to the public. It is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition. It is held in partnership with the NH State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

Over the past weeks, nearly 800 Souhegan students chose, analyzed, memorized and recited from memory a published poem from Poetry Out Loud’s online anthology. English teachers in grades 9-12 linked the project to their curriculum, with world literature students choosing poems by non-American poets, ninth graders choosing poems based on the themes they are studying in literature, and AP English students choosing from a selection of English Romantic poets.

The winner and runner-up of the competition will each receive four-year, $15,000 renewable merit scholarships from New England College. The winner will go on to the regional contest in March, then the state competition, the winner of which will advance to the national Poetry Out Loud finals in April in Washington, where $50,000 in awards and school prizes will be distributed. In last year’s competition, freshman Olivia Vordenberg went on to the state competition, which she also won to become New Hampshire’s representative at the nationals.

For information contact Jeanne Sturges at jsturges@sprise.com or 673-9940.