Spokane Student Competes in National Poetry Out Loud Final

The National Finals of Poetry Out Loud, an annual competition featuring 53 students from all across the country, begin today! Sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowments for the Arts, this competition sees about 365,000 students from more than 2,000 schools put their poetry recitation skills to the test.

That's why it's such an honor to announce that one of the golden 53 is Washington State's very own Langston Ward, a junior from Mead High School in Spokane, Washington. Ward won the Eastern Washington regional competition in February, hosted by Get Lit!, which earned him a berth at the state finals in Tacoma. Ward's winning performance at the state finals, run by the Washington State Arts Commission, showcased Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", Stephen Spender's "The Truly Great", and Carl Sandburg's "Chicago". His impressive first place recitation won him $200, plus a trip to the National Finals in Washington, D.C., all expenses paid. In addition, he landed his school $500 for the purchase of new poetry books.

Poetry Out Loud is an education program that inspires interest and passion for poetry, and this year saw the participation of about 68 schools and roughly 20,000 students in Washington State. The competition begins at classroom-level, expands to school-wide competitions, and then regionals. This year's regional competition was hosted by Get Lit! Programs.

This is the seventh year that high school students in Washington have participated in Poetry Out Loud, and we're proud of every single one of them for standing up and keeping alive the passion that poetry instills in people. We congratulate and wish the best of luck to Langston Ward. Send good thoughts his way as he competes in the semifinals today, May 14, from 5 p.m.to 8 p.m. The final event will be held May 15, beginning at 7 p.m.