The Kentucky Arts Council has selected 20 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 sixth year of the program, which encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.

The selected schools are:

• Allen County Scottsville High School – Scottsville – Allen
•  Ballard High School – Louisville – Jefferson
•  Beechwood High School – Fort Mitchell – Kenton
•  Bell County High School – Pineville – Bell
•  Boyd High School – Ashland – Boyd
•  Butler High School – Louisville – Jefferson
•  Grant County High School – Dry Ridge – Grant
•  Harlan County High School – Baxter – Harlan
•  Hart County High School – Munfordville – Hart
•  Jackson City School – Jackson – Breathitt
•  Jenkins Independent School – Jenkins – Letcher
•  Leslie County High School – Hyden – Leslie
•  Lone Oak High School – Paducah – cCracken
•  Mercer County Senior High School – Harrodsburg – Mercer
•  Ohio County High School – Hartford – Ohio
•  Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Lexington – Fayette
•  Pikeville High School – Pikeville – Pike
•  Pineville High School – Pineville – Bell
•  Russell County High School – Russell Springs – Russell
•  Western Hills High School – Frankfort – Franklin

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that begins at the classroom level. Winners advance to school-wide competition, then to the state competition and ultimately to the national finals. Last year, more than 300,000 students participated in the Poetry Out Loud program in 56 states and U.S. territories.

The winner of the Kentucky state finals, to be held in March 2011 in Frankfort, will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship. The state winner’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up will receive $100, with $200 going to his or her school library. The program culminates with the national finals in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2011. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be awarded at the national finals.

This year the arts council received a state travel grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation to increase the range of outreach across the Commonwealth. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation is honored to provide travel support for regional and state finals of Poetry Out Loud in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

For additional information about Poetry Out Loud in Kentucky, contact Carrie Nath at carrie.nath@ky.gov or 502-564-3757, ext. 486. For a general overview of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, go to: www.poetryoutloud.org.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.