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High school students memorize and recite poems from the America 250 Online Anthology to compete at classroom, school, district, state, and national levels for cash prizes.
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Get matched →Poetry Out Loud is a national program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. Students develop public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history. The program progresses from classroom competitions through school, district, regional, state, and national finals.
Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. Students must attend North Carolina schools and organizations registered with the state Poetry Out Loud coordinator. Homeschooled students may compete at a local school or with other local homeschooled students at the school's discretion.
All poems must be selected from the Poetry Out Loud America 250 Online Anthology, which focuses on poems that celebrate American history and culture in recognition of America's 250th anniversary. At the state and national finals, students must have 3 poems prepared.
Competitions must have at least two students to select a winner. State and national finals consist of three rounds of competition; students must recite only one poem in each round. Students must recite their poems from memory, with no props or costumes permitted. The order in which poems are recited is up to the student but may not be switched once given to the competition organizer.
Students are judged according to the Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria from the 2025-2026 Teacher's Guide. Rankings are based solely on evaluation sheets submitted by judges. Scoring is cumulative; scores from all rounds are added together to determine the winner. In the event of a tie, the tied student with the highest overall performance score wins; if that results in a tie, the highest accuracy score determines the winner.
Every listing links to the organizer's official page. Always confirm deadlines, fees, and entry rules there before you apply.
For information about the North Carolina Poetry Out Loud program, contact Children's Theatre of Charlotte at [email protected]. Further information, including rules, lesson plans, and eligible poems, can be found at www.poetryoutloud.org.