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Important Dates and Links for Poetry Out Loud

Tehama County Finals

February 6th, 2025, at TCAC 823 Oak Street, Red Bluff, CA

State Finals in Sacramento

March 16th & 17th, 2025

National Finals in Washington DC

May 5th - 7th, 2025

Tehama County

Poetry Out Loud

Poetry Recitation Competition Rules

 

Student Eligibility

Grade Level: Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, except for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class.

State Finals: A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition.

Legal Participation Requirements: No student may be excluded from participating in Poetry Out Loud based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. According to local and state law, schools may determine eligibility for classroom and school-level Poetry Out Loud programming.

 

Poem Eligibility

Poem Anthology: All poems must be selected from the Poetry Out Loud print or online anthology, updated every summer. Check the website after September 1, 2024, to view the official POL anthology for the current school year. Only versions of poems from the official anthology may be used in the competition.

Can’t Find a Poem? Poems may be removed from the online anthology before September 1, 2024. These poems are no longer eligible for competition unless they are in the print anthology. However, any poem in the printed anthology is eligible, even if it is not online.

Poem Criteria: At the state and national finals, students must prepare three poems. One must be 25 lines or fewer and written before the 20th century. One poem may meet both criteria and may be the student’s third poem.

 

Competition

Competition Participants: Poetry Out Loud competitions must have at least two students to select a winner. If the winner cannot attend the next level of competition, the runner-up should be sent.

Evaluation: Students must be judged according to the Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria from the 2024-2025 Teacher’s Guide.

Rounds: State and national finals consist of three rounds of competition. Lower-level competitions may have fewer rounds, but students must recite only one poem in each round.

Poem Order: The order in which the poems are recited is up to the student, but once given to the competition organizer, poem order may not be switched. Competition organizers may not dictate poem order.

Judging: Rankings are based solely on evaluation sheets submitted by judges. Judges should not convene to discuss performances during the competition, and they may not reconsider their scores after they are submitted. Judges’ decisions are final.

Scoring: Scoring is cumulative. The scores from all rounds should be added together to determine the winner.

Ties: In a tie, the tied student with the highest overall performance score should win; if that also results in a tie, look to the highest accuracy score. If scores remain tied, consider having students pick one poem to recite again as a separate score to break the tie.

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Memorization

Students must recite their poems from memory.


Props

Students may not use props or wear costumes during their recitations.

For Students

Resources for students interested in poetry and participation in the competition.

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  • Online Anthology

    Selection of POL poems available to students for recitation.

  • Recitation Videos

    What's it like to compete? Here is everything you need to to help you perform a successful recitation.

  • Tips on Reciting

    Enhance your performance with these professional recitation tips.

  • POL Conversation with Students

    A conversation with the 2020 POETRY OUT LOUD winner, Aiyanna Da'Briel and LACHSA Student and LA Youth Poet Laureate, Arlene Campa.

  • Scoring Rubric

    The scoring rubric is meant to provide a consistent measure against which to evaluate recitations.

  • Accuracy Score Sheet

    Score sheet used by the Accuracy Judge to track errors in accuracy.

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For Teachers

Resources for teachers

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