Poetry Out Loud

Alabama won the national championship for 2011!

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All Finalists: Skyler Laney (James Clemens High, 4th place), Jelecia Patterson (Austin High, Decatur, 3rd place), Sean Moriarty (St. Bernard Prep, Cullman, 2nd place), Sabria White (New Century Technology High, Huntsville, 1st place)--all those are anthology.  Sabria also placed 3rd in original poetry.  Continuing (l to r from Sabria, Original Poetry finalists), Caitlin Varquez (St. Bernard Prep, Cullman, 2nd place), Anna Tolliver (Good Hope, 4th place).
CLA Dean, Glenn Dasher, with Anthology winner, Sabria White (New Century Technology High School)		CLA Dean, Glenn Dasher, with Original Poetry winner, Kaylynn McGuire (Butler High School)

Region 5 Poetry Out Loud Finalists, Fall 2012

Two Huntsville students took top honors at this year’s Poetry Out Loud Region 5 competition, held November 16 at UAHuntsville.  This year’s first place anthology winner is Sabria White, a senior at New Century Technology High School.  Kaylynn McGuire, a senior at Butler High School, won first place in the Original Poetry Competition for her poem “Nickname” (included below).  Each first prize winner won a $100 cash prize from the Huntsville Literary Association and a $1000 scholarship from UAHuntsville.  They and three other finalists in each competition will go on to the state competition in Montgomery in February to see who will represent Alabama in Washington, DC in April.  First prize at the national competition is $20,000, and students from all 50 states and three territories will compete.

This year, 3214 students from ten northeastern Alabama schools, grades 9-12, participated in Poetry Out Loud, sending a total of 17 students to the regional competition.  Each of the contestants won a school competition in either Poetry Out Loud anthology poetry (the national competition), or original poetry (the state competition).  Sabria White will be joined by three other finalists at the state anthology competition: Sean Moriarty, a senior at St. Bernard Prep in Cullman; Jelecia Patterson, a freshman at Austin High in Decatur; and Skyler Laney, a freshman at James Clemens High in Madison.

The top original poetry students, in addition to Kaylynn McGuire, are Caitlin Varquez, a senior at St. Bernard Prep in Cullman; Sabria White (who won the anthology competition); and Anna Tolliver, a senior at Good Hope High in Cullman. 

The state Poetry Out Loud competition will be held on Monday, February 18, 2013, at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.

In January, the finalists will be coached at UAH for the state competition.  In Montgomery, they will compete with finalists from the other Alabama regions to see who will represent Alabama at the national competition in Washington, DC, April 28-30, 2013. 

Sabria White is an officer in the National Honor Society and Students of America (HOSA, an organization of future health professionals).  She volunteers with Special Olympics, the Special Needs Easter Party, and Pink Day, and has worked with blood drives and raised money for breast cancer research.  New Century Technology High School students have participated every year Region 5 has competed (since 2008), and this is Sabria’s second year to reach state finals.  Her teacher is Rebecca Savage-Owens, a UAH MA graduate. 

Kaylynn McGuire is president of Ambassadors and the Poetry Club, and a member of the Key Club.  She also plays volleyball and volunteers at the public library and with Boys and Girls Club.  This is her second year to represent Butler at the regional competition.  Her teacher is Rosalia Turner.

Alabama is unusual in running an Original Poetry Competition alongside the Poetry Out Loud competition, which requires students to memorize and perform work by well known authors from the Poetry Out Loud anthology.  This year eight schools participated in the Original Poetry Competition, and two sent more than one original poetry competitor.  Only anthology contestants advance to the national competition.  Region 5 students won the state Original Poetry competition three of the four years we have competed, and last year Margaret (Peggy) Payne from Mooresville won the state competition and competed in Washington, DC.