Poetry Out Loud Regional Championships Held Across Pennsylvania in February

HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- High school students from across the state will compete for a chance to represent their region at Pennsylvania's state championship for the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) sponsors the competition along with its regional partners and arts organizations.

Regional finalists are selected through classroom, school and the regional contests. Last year, finalists were chosen from 10,000 Pennsylvania high school students. 100 Pennsylvania high schools incorporated Poetry Out Loud as part of their curriculums.

Each student memorizes and performs three poems selected from print and online poetry anthologies. Students are judged on voice and articulation, physical presence, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty, overall performance, and accuracy.

Judges for the state and regional finals include performers, poets and cultural and business leaders from across the state.

PCA chair and Pennsylvania First Lady Susan Corbett will welcome the competitors to the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg for the state competition on March 11. The State Champion will represent the Commonwealth in the national championship in Washington, D.C. in May.

Created by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance and competition. The state champion will receive $200 from The Poetry Foundation and an expense-paid trip to compete in the national championship, which will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends, with at least one $20,000 college scholarship.

For more information, go to www.poetryoutloud.org

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is a state agency under the Governor's Office that works to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state. The council's regional Poetry Out Loud partners are: Allentown Art Museum; ArtsErie; ArtsPath: Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Blair County Arts Foundation; Cultural Alliance of York County; Galaxy, the Arts in Education Program of Central Intermediate Unit 10; Jump Street; Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19; Northern Tier Partnership for Arts Education/Bradford County Regional Arts Council; Perry County Council of the Arts; Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership; Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; South Central PaARTners: Millersville University; and Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

Media contact:    Heather Doughty, 717-787-1517;  PCA

Editors Note: Competition information is listed below:

SOURCE Pennsylvania Council on the Arts