This year over 11,500 Arizona high school students participated in Arizona Poetry Out Loud, a program of the Arizona Commission on the Arts in partnership with the Young Writers Program at Arizona State University and The Poetry Center at the University of Arizona.
Eight, Arizona PBS recently hosted the 2011 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals in their studio in Phoenix. The event is set to air on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, at 7:30pm and 11:30pm, and again on Sunday, April 24, 2011, at 5:00pm. More information about program and air dates can be found here: http://www.azpbs.org/pressroom/2011/april/az_poetry.php.
Steffi McNerney, a senior at St. Gregory College Preparatory High School in Tucson, Arizona, was selected as the winner of the sixth annual Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals. The competition, held on March 16, 2011, recognizes one high school competitor to represent Arizona in the National Poetry Out Loud competition, presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, in Washington D.C., April 27-29, 2011.
The Arizona Poetry Out Loud state champion, Steffi McNerney, receives a $200 cash award and an all-expenses-paid trip to the national finals, where she will compete for a $20,000 college scholarship. McNerney’s school also receives $500 to purchase poetry books for its library. Runner-up in the Arizona State competition, Naomi Blackwell, a senior at Tucson High Magnet School, receives $100, and her high school receives $200 towards the purchase of poetry books for the school’s library.
Participating students compete at the classroom and school level. 80 school-level finalists competed in one of three regional competitions (northern, central or southern) to advance to the state level. Including McNerney and Blackwell, nine students – three from each region – were recognized as finalists in the state competition:
Carly Bates, Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix
Reid Carter, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff
Travis Marino, Freedom Christian Academy, Queen Creek
Grace Barker, Kingman High School, Kingman
Lindsay Bulloch, Mountain View High School, Mesa
Alina Burniston-Perez, Sedona Red Rock High School, Sedona
Samantha Neville, Tucson High Magnet School, Tucson
Sixth Annual Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finalists; (left to right) Naomi Blackwell, Tucson High Magnet School; Lindsey Bulloch, Mountain View High School, Mesa; Reid Carter, Flagstaff High School; Steffi McNerney, St. Gregory College Preparatory, Tucson; Alina Burniston-Perez, Sedona Red Rock High School; Grace Barker, Kingman High School; Carly Bates, Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix; Samantha Neville, Tucson High Magnet School; and Travis Marino, Freedom Christian Academy, Queen Creek.
Arizona Commission on the Arts Executive Director Robert C. Booker said of the program, “This year over 11,500 students and 200 teachers participated in the statewide competition. Year after year, participation in the program grows. This demonstrates the positive effect the arts have on the education of our young people. Arizona Poetry Out Loud instills in the student participants a greater sense of self-confidence and increases their public speaking skills. These are skills grounded in the arts that will serve the participants throughout their lives.”
Judges for the 2011 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals included: Christopher Lane, poet and author from Sedona; Logan Phillips, Tucson-based bilingual transdisciplinary artist, poet and member of multimedia performance group Verbobala; Robert X. Planet, writer, musician, actor and director, and former drama critic from Phoenix; Alberto Ríos, celebrated Arizona poet, Regents’ Professor and the Katherine C. Turner Chair in English at Arizona State University; and Beth Staples, poet and managing editor of Hayden’s Ferry Review, Marginalia and Word of Mouth, at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
Rep David Gowan, District 30 and Arizona Poetry Out Loud Finalist Steffi McNerney
About Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry—recitation and performance. Poetry Out Loud invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the English class. Through Poetry Out Loud, students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage. For further information regarding Poetry Out Loud, visit www.azarts.gov/pol or www.poetryoutloud.org.
