UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR POETRY OUT LOUD COUNTY WINNERS, JACOB WALKER AND JACQUELINE QUINTANILLA!
San Bernardino, CA — Arts Connection announces the San Bernardino County Poetry Out Loud Champion, Jacob Walker from Big Bear High School. Our runner up, from W.A. Carter High School in Rialto, is Jacqueline Quintanilla. The Contest was held at The Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino, where we had a full house with friends, family, teachers and poetry enthusiasts. Jacob will be heading to Sacramento on March 18th and 19th to compete in the state finals. The competition is presented in partnership with the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition.
Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to the state competition, and ultimately to the national finals in Washington, DC. More than 310,000 students from 2,300 high schools took part in the 2016–2017 Poetry Out Loud program.
Contestants recite works they selected from an anthology of more than 900 classic and contemporary poems. Students participating in the Poetry Out Loud program have benefited from educational materials created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. These standards-based curriculum materials include an online anthology, a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, and video and audio on the art of recitation. Schools are welcome to download these free resources at poetryoutloud.org.
This year’s competitors were from the following schools: Big Bear High School, The Grove School, Rialto High School, and W.A. Carter High School. The contest was judged by poets Tim Hatch, Isabel Quintero, George Hammons and Romaine Washington.
POETRY OUT LOUD AWARDS
The state champion will receive an all-expenses-paid trip (with an adult chaperone) to compete in the national finals in Washington, DC, on April 24–25, 2018. The Poetry Out Loud national finals will present a total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends, with a $20,000 award for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion. Poetry Out Loud is a program of the following organizations:
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. For more information, visit arts.gov.
ABOUT THE POETRY FOUNDATION
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative partnerships, prizes, and programs. For more information, visit poetryfoundation.org.
ABOUT CALFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL
ABOUT ARTS CONNECTION
Arts Connection is the arts council for San Bernardino County, designated by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to serve as the State and Local Partner to the California Arts Council. Arts Connection is dedicated to stimulating creative and economic vitality and enriching lives throughout the communities they serve by providing support, promotion, education, and advocacy for the arts.
Poetry Out Loud Participants from left to right: Jacob Walker, Jacqueline Quintanilla, Sarah Bouchard, Veritus Miller, Zoe Demairais, and Gabriel-Thomas Wright.