The Kentucky Arts Council has selected fifteen high schools to participate in the state competition for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.  This is the fifth year of the program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, recitation and competition.

Selected schools are Allen County Scottsville High School, Allen County; Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Fayette County; Frankfort High School, Franklin County; Western Hills High School, Franklin County; Fulton High School, Fulton County; Grant County High School, Grant County; Harlan County High School, Harlan County; Hart County High School, Hart County; Ballard High School, Jefferson County; Beechwood High School, Kenton County; Knox Central High School, Knox County; Jenkins Independent School, Letcher County; Mercer County High School, Mercer County; Ohio County High School, Ohio County; and Greenwood High School, Warren County.

Each school chosen will explore poems from supplied materials and have Kentucky Arts Council approved artists working in the selected schools to give teachers and students tools with which to open up their approach to poetry.  Participating teachers will conduct classroom recitation competitions followed by a school-wide competition.  The winner from each school will participate in the state Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest on March 16, 2010 at the Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort.  The state winner will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC to compete in the April 25-27, 2010 National Finals. In addition, his or her school will receive a $500 stipend to purchase poetry books.

Kentucky students have reached the finalist stage for three out of the last four years of the national competition. The 2009 Kentucky winner, Barbara Gooding, from Western Hills High School in Frankfort, went on to finish 2nd nationally.

For additional information about the Kentucky Poetry Out Loud competition, contact Carrie Nath, arts education director for the Kentucky Arts Council at (888) 833-2787 ext. 486 or carrie.nath@ky.gov.

For a general overview of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, go to: www.poetryoutloud.org.