Sophie Weinzinger, a junior at Coconino High School in Flagstaff, was recently named 2018 Arizona Poetry Out Loud Champion. Weinzinger will represent Arizona at the 13th Annual Poetry Out Loud National Finals competition in Washington, DC, April 24-25, 2018. Tune in to your local Arizona PBS station on April 6th at 7:30pm to watch the 2018 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals, held on March 3.
The Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals were held at the studios of Arizona PBS in Downtown Phoenix on Saturday, March 3. Ten students, representing schools from Tucson to Ganado, a chapter of the Navajo Nation, recited poems by a diverse array of literary luminaries, including Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, and Tato Laviera. After two rounds of recitations, four students advanced to the final round. From these four, Sophie Weinzinger was named State Champion while Antonio Juarez, a senior at Willow Canyon High School in Surprise, was named first runner-up.
Watch the Arizona Finals
A special featuring highlights from the 2018 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals competition will be broadcast on Arizona PBS.
Friday, April 6 at 7:30pm
Tuesday, April 10 at 1:30am
For detailed information, click here.
Webcast of the National Finals
The 2018 National Finals will be held April 24-25, 2018 at the Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
The semifinals and finals will be webcast live.
Tuesday, April 24
Semifinals at Lisner Auditorium
6:00am – 9:00am. Semifinal: Region 1
– East Central and Northeast
– DC, CT, MA, NY, SC, OH, VI, NJ, VA, DE, NH, WV, RI, NC, MD, VT, ME, PA
10:00am – 1:00pm. Semifinal: Region 2
– Midwest and South Central
– MO, OK, GA, AL, IA, WI, IN, KS, AR, TN, IL, KY, MI, MS, LA, FL, NE, PR
2:00pm – 5:00pm. Semifinal: Region 3
– Upper Northwest and West
– SD, MN, CA, CO, NV, ID, AK, AZ, NM, HI, TX, WA, UT, OR, WY, MT, ND
Please Note: The recitation order within each region is determined by a random process. The random recitation order will be honored for all three rounds of competition at the semifinals.
Wednesday, April 25
National Finals at Lisner Auditorium
7:00pm – 9:15pm. National Finals
Follow
Poetry Out Loud is on Twitter at @PoetryOutLoud and @NEAarts, #POL18.
About Poetry Out Loud
A program of the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation competition delivered in high schools in all 50 states and three territories through partnerships with State Arts Agencies. Arizona’s Poetry Out Loud program is managed by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the State of Arizona, with support from regional partners, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Phonetic Spit, and William Cordeiro, PhD, a Flagstaff-based poet and lecturer at Northern Arizona University.
