10 Napa County High School Students Compete in Poetry Contest

Arts Council Napa Valley Announces Poetry Out Loud County Competition

Arts Council Napa Valley announces the Napa County finals for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. The competition, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. On February 3, 2016, 10 high school students from 5 Napa County high schools will participate in the Poetry Out Loud Napa County finals at Napa Valley College. The winner will receive a $200 scholarship and the runner-up will receive $100 scholarship. The student that takes first place in the Napa County competition will go on to the California State Finals and will have a chance to compete in the National Finals in Washington DC in May.

Schools participating include American Canyon High School, New Tech High School, St. Helena High School, Napa High School, and Justin Siena High School.

Barry Martin, Co-CEO of Lucky Penny Productions will be the emcee of the event. Stephen Sossaman, Author, Speaker, Teacher and Professor Emeritus of English Westerfield State University, Michael Ross, former Director of Napa Valley Playhouse, Iris Dunkle, Poet and Professor at Napa Valley College; John Thill, Librarian at Napa County Library; and Beclee Wilson, Napa County Poet Laureate.

Attendance to Poetry Out Loud Napa County Competition is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 3rd at 6:00pm

WHERE: Napa Valley College Community Room located in the McCarthy Library, building 1700, room #1731.

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. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to the state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC. Some 365,000 students from more than 2,300 high schools took part in the 2014–2015 Poetry Out Loud program. At Napa Valley College, contestants will recite works they selected from an anthology of more than 900 classic and contemporary poems. Students participating in the Poetry Out Loud program have benefited from educational materials created by the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation.

BACKGROUND ON POETRY OUT LOUD: NATIONAL RECITATION CONTEST

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have created Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, an innovative arts education program, which is managed in partnership with the state arts agencies and their partners. 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. In the 2014‐2015 school year, Poetry Out Loud celebrates its tenth anniversary, reaching nearly 2.5 million students at more than 7,300 schools nationwide in the past decade. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a school‐wide competition, then to the state competitions in February, and then to the National Finals in Washington, DC, on May 2-4, 2016.

About Arts Council Napa Valley

Arts Council Napa Valley enriches the lives of greater Napa community through arts and culture. With roots back to 1963, Arts Council advances the arts in Napa County through diverse cultural programs and community services responding to our three core initiatives: Cultural Tourism, Art in Public Spaces, and Arts in Education. For more information, please visit www.artscouncilnapavalley.org.

Photos: Andrew Lloren, Napa County Poetry Out Loud 2015