Boom advances in Poetry Out Loud competition

Ashley Boom, Edgeley (N.D.) High School, is among students who will compete at the North Dakota Poetry Out Loud Competition on Monday in Bismarck.

Competition begins at 9:30 a.m. with two semi-final rounds of oral recitation concluding at 11:30 a.m. At 1 p.m., North Dakota poets Heidi Czerwiec, Chuck Suchy, Shadd Piehl and Joseph Davis will give a one-hour presentation of poetry, music and conversation. The final round of competition and award ceremony will follow at 2:15 p.m.

The competition, presented in partnership with the North Dakota Council on the Arts, 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.

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, D.C.

Students recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 650 classic and contemporary poems. Judges evaluated student performances on criteria including voice and articulation, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty and accuracy.

The North Dakota Poetry Out Loud state champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete in the national championship, April 29-30. The school of the state champion will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books.

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