DHS Student Wins Regional Poetry Contest, Returns To State Final

DEERFIELD, IL — After winning the Chicago metro area regional final of a poetry recitation competition, Deerfield High School junior Charles Hsu will travel to Springfield this week to take part in the Illinois state contest for the second consecutive year, according to school officials and the Springfield Arts Council.

The state finals of the 2019 Poetry Out Load competition will feature Hsu and 15 other students who were either winners or runners-up at eight regional competitions held last month.

More than 11,000 students and 215 teachers at more than 50 public and private Illinois high school students took part in the competition, which starts at the classroom level and expands to a school final before regional, state and national contests.

Poetry Out Loud began in 2005 and is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in partnership with state arts agencies.

Statewide winners will receive $200 and a trip to Washington, D.C., with an adult chaperone. The state winner's school also wins $500 for the purchase of poetry books. The winner among the 53 state and territory champions will receive a $20,000 scholarship.

The other winners and runner-ups of regional competitions for Chicago and its suburbs include Bushra Khan from Maine East High School, Alyssa Argent from Taft High School and Nanette Nkolomoni from Mather High School.

The Illinois state competition begins 10 a.m. Friday at the LRS Theatre in the Hoogland Center for the Arts, 420 S. Sixth Street in Springfield. The national competition takes place April 29 to May 1 in Washington, D.C.