Rose Horowitz is the Poetry Out Loud Maine State Champion
Augusta – Rose Horowitz of Mt. Ararat High School won the 2016 Poetry Out Loud competition on March 15 at the Waterville Opera House. Owen Sinclair from Rangeley Lakes Regional School was the runner-up. Both students will receive cash awards and their schools will receive prize money to purchase poetry books for their libraries.
Poetry Out Loud was established in 2006 and is sponsored annually at the state level by the Maine Arts Commission. This year’s competition included almost 10,000 students in 46 public and private Maine high schools. After participating in classroom, school-wide and regional level competitions, 10 state finalists gathered at the Waterville Opera House to recite three rounds of poetry from memory in the Maine State Final. Horowitz recited three poems: “In the Basement of the Goodwill Store” by Ted Kooser, “Mrs. Caldera’s House of Things” by Gregory Djanikian, and “On An Unsociable Family” by Elizabeth Hands.
As the Maine State Champion, Horowitz will represent Maine at the National Poetry Out Loud Finals to be held May 2–4 in Washington, D.C. where students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico will compete for the national title and a total of $50,000 in awards, including a grand prize of $20,000, and school stipends for the purchase of poetry. All prizes, as well as all materials for running this popular program in high schools across the nation, come from the National Endowment for the Arts and their partner in Poetry Out Loud, the Poetry Foundation.
In addition to Horowitz and Sinclair, other state finalists were: Lydia Caron, Bangor High School; Morgan Steward, Carrabec High School; Shiloh Munsen, Freeport High School; Charlotte Benoit, Greely High School; Danielle Barrett, Hampden Academy; Sylvia Holland, Maine Coast Waldorf School; Anna Bucklin, Searsport District High School; and Ben Millspaugh, Waynflete School.
Thornton Academy Jazz Combo, under the direction of music educator Dave Stebbins, provided musical interludes.
Back Row (l to r): Lydia Caron, Shiloh Munsen, Morgan Steward, Owen Sinclair, Anna Bucklin, Ben Millspaugh Front Row (l to r): Sylvia Holland, Charlotte Benoit, Rose Horowitz, Danielle Barrett
For more information about Poetry Out Loud, http://mainearts.maine.gov/Pages/Education/POL-Home or contact Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education, Maine Arts Commission at argy.nestor@maine.gov
The Maine Arts Commission shall encourage and stimulate public interest and participation in the cultural heritage and cultural programs of our state; shall expand the state’s cultural resources; and shall encourage and assist freedom of artistic expression for the well being of the arts, to meet the needs and aspirations of persons in all parts of the state.
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