41 High School Groups to Participate in 2015 NH Poetry Out Loud

The N.H. State Council on the Arts is pleased to announce that the competition roster for this year’s N.H. Poetry Out Loud is set. Forty-one high schools and school groups, from Groveton to Keene to Portsmouth, will vie to be home to New Hampshire’s state champion as the program celebrates its 10th anniversary.

A winner from each competition site will advance to one of four regional semi-finals this winter; top finishers at the semi-finals compete at the state championships. New Hampshire’s champion will then travel to Washington, D.C., for the national championships in April, where more than $50,000 in college scholarships and prizes will be awarded to the top finishers.

A nationwide program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn the beauty and power of language through memorization and the performance of great poems. By participating, students have the opportunity to strengthen their public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.

New Hampshire’s Poetry Out Loud program is managed by the N.H. State Council on the Arts with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Hampshire Writers Project. Other partners include the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, Granite State Ambassadors, Putnam Foundation, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Frost Center and Opus Advisors.

N.H. school groups participating are:

• Academy for Science & Design (Nashua)
• Alvirne High School (Hudson)
• Bow High School
• Cocheco Arts & Technology Academy (Dover)
• Coe-Brown Northwood Academy (Northwood)
• Concord High School
• ConVal Regional High School (Peterborough)
• Derryfield School (Manchester)
• Dover High School
• Exeter High School
• Goffstown High School
• Granite State Arts Academy (Derry)
• Groveton High School
• High Mowing School (Wilton)
• Holderness School
• Hollis/Brookline High School
• Hopkinton Middle High School
• Jesse Remington High School (Candia)
• John Stark Regional High School (Weare)
• Kearsarge High School (Sutton)
• Keene Public Library
• Kingswood Regional High School (Wolfeboro)
• Lin-Wood Public School (Lincoln)
• Merrimack High School
• Newfound Regional High School (Bristol)
• Newmarket High School
• Oyster River High School (Durham)
• Parker Academy (Concord)
• Pembroke Academy
• Plymouth Regional High School
• Portsmouth High School
• Prospect Mountain Regional High School (Alton)
• Raymond High School
• Somersworth High School
• Souhegan High School (Amherst)
• Spaulding High School (Rochester)
• St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Dover)
• Windham High School
• Winnacunnet High School (Hampton)
• Winnisquam Regional High School (Tilton)
• Woodsville High School

There is a waiting list for school groups interested in being added to the program, should space become available.

For more information, visit nh.gov/nharts and click on the “Poetry Out Loud” icon, or contact Catherine O’Brian, 603-271-0795, catherine.r.obrian@dcr.nh.gov.