1. Poetry Out Loud Glynn Academy

2. What Is Poetry Out Loud? In Their Own Words Great Performances

3. Would you like to win $20,000? Please plan to attend an informational meeting on Thursday, December 11 th In Mrs. Bray’s room, #1106 at 3:35 p.m. 2012 Third Place Winner MarKaye Hassan, National Champion Kristen Dupard, and Second Place Winner Claude Mumbere

4. History of Program The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation joined together to create Poetry Out Loud, a program that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. Since it was piloted in 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to include hundreds of thousands of students across the country. Champions from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico compete at the National Finals in Washington, DC, each spring.

5. Student Eligibility Grade Level: Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. Citizenship: Competitors at the state and national finals must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a valid tax identification or Social Security number. Tax identification or Social Security numbers are required to receive prizes, including cash payments or travel awards. Students are responsible for verifying their eligibility. State Finals: A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition.

6. COMPETITION Schools must hold a competition to select their champion. If the school champion is unable to attend the next level of competition, the runner-up should be sent as the alternate. Students must be evaluated according to the Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria. State and national finals will consist of three rounds of competition. Competitions at lower levels may have fewer rounds, but students must recite only one poem in each round.

7. Number of Poems at Each Contest Level Participants in the school finals must prepare two poems for recitation. Students who advance to the state and national levels must have three poems prepared. Students will recite their poems in rounds, not consecutively, delivering one poem in each round

8. Poem Selection Students must select poems from the official Poetry Out Loud print or online anthologies. Not all poems on the CD or DVD are eligible for recitation in Poetry Out Loud. Any poem in the printed anthology is eligible for competition even if it is not available online. It is strongly recommended that students who compete beyond the classroom level select poems of various style, time period, and voice. Diversity in the selections will offer a richer and more complete performance. For the state and national competitions, students must select one poem of 25 lines or shorter and one poem written before the 20th century. The same poem may be used to meet both requirements. Lists of qualified poems are available on the Poetry Out Loud website.

9. Contest Evaluation Physical Presence Voice and Articulation Dramatic Appropriateness Level of Difficulty Evidence of Understanding Overall Performance ACCURACY

10. Accuracy Minor Inaccuracies Confusing a pronoun (“he instead of “she”) Confusing an article (“a” instead of “the”) Pluralizing a word or vice-versa (“horses” instead of “horse”) Replacing a word with a similar word (“jump” instead of “leap”) Confusing the order of words (“hops and skips” instead of “skips and hops”) Skipping a word Repeating a word Adding a word Major inaccuracies One line out of order Repeating a line Skipped one line/skipped three or more words in the same line Reversed two stanzas Skipped one stanza Use of prompter: Each time a student uses the prompter, 3 points will be deducted from the final accuracy score.