Poetry Out Loud Registration

Poetry Out Loud Registration is sponsored by Kentucky Arts Council. Encourages high school students to participate in a poetry recitation competition.

Poetry Out Loud Registration - Kentucky Arts Council Poetry Out Loud Registration Application Deadline: November 18, 2026 The Kentucky Arts Council strongly encourages you to read and understand the grant guidelines before accessing the application. Poetry Out Loud® lifts poetry off the page, creating community and connection.

Through this program, high school students across the country participate in a dynamic poetry recitation competition that is designed to improve their public speaking skills, help build confidence, and teach them about literary history and contemporary life.

A program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council, Poetry Out Loud provides free lesson plans and other educational materials to teachers and organizers, including an online anthology of classic and contemporary poems. Any representative of a Kentucky public or private high school may register. Acceptance into the program will be on a first-come, first-served basis as program resources allow.

Homeschooled students may compete through either a local participating high school or a home school regional competition that is hosted by a local library, nonprofit organization, or community center.

Each participating school will: Select one teacher to serve as the program coordinator who will incorporate poetry recitation into their class curriculum, be the primary point of contact with the arts council, and organize a schoolwide poetry competition. Receive a fully-funded interactive residency with a professional teaching artist to help students prepare for competition.

The school coordinator and teaching artist will work together to plan their class schedules. Receive free multimedia curriculum materials, including teacher guides and promotional content. Organize a schoolwide poetry competition with no fewer than two students and no fewer than two rounds of recitation to select a school champion to happen no later than Feb.

1, 2027. Submit a final report, highlighting student and teacher experiences, within 15 days after completion of the school contest. Noncompliant schools will be disqualified from competition in the state finals.

Work with the school champion to attend and compete in the state finals competition to be held on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2027, in central Kentucky. If the school champion wins the state finals, work with the school champion to attend and compete in the national finals competition to be held April 26-28, 2027, in Washington, D.

C. (Note: There is no monetary obligation on the part of the district or the school for the student’s participation in the national finals. On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts administers all aspects of travel for state champions to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals.)

Participation Requirements Class size may not exceed 31 students when working with the teaching artist. The teaching artist may work with each class only once during the residency. The teaching artists may work with a minimum of four and a maximum of 20 distinct classes in a five-day period.

A teacher must remain present at all times when students are working with the teaching artist. The program coordinating teacher must submit a final report in the GO Smart application system within 15 days after the school championship.

The program coordinating teacher must ensure that Kentucky Arts Council grant funding is used only for paying the teaching artist used for the POL residency and that the artist is paid in a timely manner after completion of the residency. All competitors are evaluated on the following criteria: Evidence of understanding Poetry Out Loud competitions must have at least two students to select a winner.

If the winner is unable to attend the next level of competition, the runner-up should be sent. Students must be judged according to the Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria from the 2026-2027 Teacher’s Guide. State and national finals consist of three rounds of competition.

School and classroom competitions may have fewer rounds, but students must recite only one poem in each round. The order in which the poems are recited is up to the student, but poem order may not be switched once given to the competition organizer. Competition organizers may not dictate poem order.

Rankings are based solely on evaluation sheets submitted by judges. Judges will not discuss performances during the competition. Judges may not reconsider their scores after they are submitted.

Judges’ decisions are final. Scoring is cumulative. The scores from all rounds will be added together to determine the winner.

In the event of a tie, the tied student with the highest overall performance score will be declared the winner. If that also results in a tie, the student with the highest accuracy score will be declared the winner. If scores remain tied, the students who are tied will select one poem to recite again as a separate score to break the tie.

Students must recite their poems from memory. Students may not use props, wear costumes, remove a microphone from its stand, or walk around the stage during their recitation. Student Eligibility for Competition Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a grade 9-12 class.

The school champion must be in grades 9-12 and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident as required by the National Endowment for the Arts. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition. No student may be excluded from participating in Poetry Out Loud on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, or national origin.

National Champions are not eligible to compete in subsequent years. Poem Eligibility for Competition All poems must be selected from the Poetry Out Loud Online Anthology. Check the Poetry Out Loud website after Sept.

1, 2026, to view the official POL anthology for the current school year. Only versions of poems from the official Online Anthology may be used in the competition. In the state and national finals, students must have 3 poems prepared.

One must be 25 lines or fewer, and one must be published before 1930. One poem may be used to meet both criteria and may be the student’s third poem. On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts will provide and administer all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded in Poetry Out Loud.

In order to receive prizes, state champions and runners-up will be required to submit an IRS Form W-9 or Form W-8BEN in order to be eligible to receive the prize money. Prizes are not transferable and are taxable to the recipient.

$200 for the state champion $500 for poetry materials for the state champion’s school or organization $100 for the state runner-up $200 for the purchase of poetry materials for the runner-up’s school or organization.

$20,000 for the National Champion $10,000 for the first runner-up (second place) $5,000 for second runner-up (third place) $1,000 for fourth through ninth runner-up $500 for the purchase of poetry materials for the representing schools or organizations of each of the top nine finalists $1,000 for one honorable mention in each of the three national semifinal competitions.

Students who receive honorable mention do not advance to the finals $500 stipend for the school/organization of each student receiving an honorable mention. Scheduling agreement deadline Seven days after receipt of agreement Teaching artist residencies Oct. 20, 2026-Jan.

29, 2027 School competition finals & champion’s registration for state finals 15 days after completion of school contest National finals registration deadline National finals, Washington, D. C. Before registering, carefully read all instructions and obtain approval from your school administrators (e.g., district superintendent and school principal) for your school’s participation in Poetry Out Loud.

Register online on the Kentucky Arts Council GO Smart grant system. For the GO Smart Profile, you will need the school’s federal congressional district number and state house and senate district numbers . Registration must be completed no later than 11:59 p.

m. Eastern on Oct. 3, 2026.

Following the deadline, each registration form will be reviewed by the program director, who may contact the registrant if clarification is needed. Completing the GO Smart Registration Form Accept the Terms and Conditions When asked if you are an Individual or Organization, select Organization. (Individual’s will not have access to Poetry Out Loud Registration.)

Create a Username and Password. Remember to store them in a safe place to ensure that you can access your account later. This profile can be used to register for POL and other arts education programs.

Update the profile as necessary. If your school or organization already has a Go Smart profile, do not create a new profile. Contact the arts council if you require profile assistance.

Once the profile page has been created you will be re-directed to the Grant Applications & Forms page. To begin your registration, scroll down to “Poetry Out Loud FY27” and click Start. As you work through the form, remember to click Save before leaving the page.

Note: All Kentucky Arts Council funds are contingent upon budgetary action by the Kentucky General Assembly and upon annual receipt of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Kentucky Arts Council welcomes your questions. For more information please visit the official Poetry Out Loud website , or contact: Arts Program Branch Manager