Poetry Out Loud

The 2021 New Jersey Region 5 Competition was held virtually on Thursday, January 28. Below is a recording of the competition.

The virtual 2021 State Finals streamed live on NJPOL’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 4PM and will take place as a video submission-based competition.

SOPAC is the proud partner for Region 5 of the New Jersey Poetry Out Loud® competition.

About Poetry Out Loud

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. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, learn about literary history and contemporary life as well as compete for awards and scholarships totaling $100,000.

For more information visit the NJ Poetry Out Loud (NJPOL) website (www.NJPOL.org/What-is-POL)or the national Poetry Out Loud® (POL) website (www.PoetryOutLoud.org).

Any teacher or administrator at a New Jersey public, charter, parochial school or home school organization serving grades 9-12, or the age/grade equivalent can register for the program. Registered schools can implement the NJPOL program in any classroom, club or after-school program.

Participating teachers or administrators use a toolkit to teach poetry recitation and run classroom competitions. Students select, memorize, and recite poems from an anthology of more than 900 classic and contemporary poems. Beginning at the classroom level, winners will advance to the school wide competition, then to the regional competitions, the state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC.

Poetry Out Loud® is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies. New Jersey Poetry Out Loud is a project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in collaboration with Mayo Performing Arts Center, ArtPride New Jersey Foundation, and a growing list of local partners.

2019 New Jersey Poetry Out Loud State Runner-Up, Monica Howze from Payne Technical High School in Newark, NJ recites “Quite Frankly” by Mark Halliday: