Poetry Out Loud

POETRY OUT LOUD CELEBRATES 10 YEARS


HLA members who participated in this year’s Poetry Out Loud contest held at Chan Auditorium, UAH Campus were Carol Ashburn Roach, Jessica Temple, Leslie Thomas, and Margaret Vann.
For the past ten years, HLA has co-sponsored the contest, providing Judges and $100 for each of the two first place winners.

Poetry Out Loud is national arts education program presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation in partnership with state arts councils nationwide. In Alabama, the Alabama State Council on the Arts partners with the Alabama Arts Alliance. This year marks the 10th year that UAH has hosted the Region 5 contest. Encouraging mastery of great poetry in high schools across the country, POL uses a pyramid structure.

Beginning at the class room level, winners advance to a school-wide competition, regional competition, the state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, D.C. Alabama is one of the few states that include an original poetry competition within its state poetry finals.

In Alabama, students compete in the anthology division and the original poetry division. Five finalists are chosen from each division.

This year the contest was held on November 22.
  

The winners of the POL Region 5 Competition are:

Anthology Competition:

  • 1st place:  Katrina Agnew, New Century Technology High School
  • 2nd place: Ja’Niyah Blue, Sparkman High School
  • 3rd place:  Haripriya Mantraratnam, James Clemens High School
  • 4th place: Abby Kulkarni, Bob Jones High School
  • 5th place: Samuel Schultz, Randolph School

Original Poetry:

  • 1st place:  Sija Headrick, Bob Jones High School
  • 2nd place: Ariahna Battle, Lee High School
  • 3rd place:  Lorelei Bachuss, Austin High School
  • 4th place:  Monique Treasure, New Century Technology High School
  • 5th place:  Cheyenne Towry, Sparkman High School
The UAH English Department coordinates and hosts the contest. Coordinators are Anna Lowe Weber, Lecturer, and Staff Assistants, Cynthia Brasher and Lyndsey Torok.