- Poetry Out Loud - What is Poetry Out Loud? - How it Works/ Guidelines - 2007 Registration form (MSWord Doc)

What Is Poetry Out Loud?

Poetry Out Loud provides high school poets from Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley the opportunity to perform their original work to the community and their peers and win recognition for their efforts. Poetry Out Loud is a community outreach program designed to encourage high school students to write and perform original poetry, to inspire learning, and to develop performance skills.

On the night of Poetry Out Loud, students gather together in teams to represent their high schools. Teams are composed of a faculty advisor and three students (some schools send more than one team)

Each student reads his or her poetry, which is scored on both the content and quality of the poem and the performance of the poet. The three teammates' individual scores are then combined to create the score for the team.

Poetry Out Loud offers two major awards:

The winning high school team receives the honor of having its school and team name engraved on the traveling Poetry Out Loud trophy.

The Jessie Withrow Award for Individual Excellence, first awarded in 2001, is given to the best individual competitor of the night. The winner of this award is published in Understory, the UAA journal of literary and creative arts.