NH’s 2018 Poetry Out Loud Champion named

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts announces that Alana Hoskins from Souhegan High School is the winner of New Hampshire’s 2018 Poetry Out Loud High School Championship, which took place at the State House’s Representatives Hall on March 9. Eleni Spiliotes from Holderness School was selected as alternate champion.

As state champion, Hoskins receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship. Her high school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Spiliotes will receive $100, with $200 for her school library.

Should Hoskins be unable to attend, Spiliotes will represent New Hampshire at the event.

A national program organized by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and led in New Hampshire by the N.H. State Council on the Arts, Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn great poetry through memorization and recitation, helping them master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.

Students, educators and parents consistently report that being identified as a talented presenter of great poetry is an experience that changes lives.

In New Hampshire, approximately 9,000 students from 44 high schools take part in the program each year; there is no cost to compete and all materials are provided to enrolled schools. A map of schools that participated in the 2018 program is available from the Poetry Out Loud section of the NHSCA’s website, nh.gov/nharts.

New Hampshire’s Poetry Out Loud supporters include the Putnam Foundation – a donor-advised fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation – and the New Hampshire Writers Project. Other partners include New Hampshire Public Radio, the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, Slam Free or Die, the Frost Place, Granite State Ambassadors and the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire.

To learn more about 2018 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud or to find out how schools can be involved in future competitions, visit nh.gov/nharts and click on the Poetry Out Loud button. For additional information, contact Julianne Gadoury, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts at 603-271-0791, julianne.gadoury@dncr.nh.gov.

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is a division of the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. It began in 1965 with legislation designed “to insure that the role of the arts in the life of our communities will continue to grow and play an ever more significant part in the education and welfare of our citizens.” Funding for programs is provided through state appropriations, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Conservation License Plate fund. Learn more about the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts at nh.gov/nharts.

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