Inyo Council for the Arts Announces Winners of Poetry Out Loud 2025 Contest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INYO COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF POETRY OUT LOUD 2024 CONTEST 

Inyo Council for the Arts announces the winners of the 2025 Inyo County contest of Poetry Out Loud™.

The Inyo County Champion is Embry Aguilera 9th Grade and the Runner up is Alina Parra 11th Grade both from Bishop Union High School.

Poetry Out Loud presented in partnership with the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, is a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry—both classic and contemporary—through memorization, performance, and competition. Since the program began in 2005, more than 3.8 million students and 60,000 teachers from 16,000 schools across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud.

On Feb 5th, 8 high school students from Owens Valley High School and Bishop Union High School participated in the Poetry Out Loud school contest in Independence, Ca.

Each student recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 1,100 poems. Judges evaluated student performances on criteria including voice and articulation, evidence of understanding, and accuracy.

The Owens Valley High School winner will travel to Sacramento to compete in the State Poetry Out Loud competition March 16-17.

The California champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship. The school of the state champion will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up in each state will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. The national finals will take place May 2nd, 2024, where $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be distributed.

News Staff