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Illinois Arts Council Agency Announces Poetry Out Loud State Final
ILLINOIS -- The Illinois Arts Council Agency is pleased to announce Illinois’ 2012-2013 Poetry Out Loud State Final, featuring recitations by sixteen regional contest winners. The event will take place on Friday, March 8, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. in Springfield’s Hoogland Center for the Arts. Attendance is free, open to the public, and accessible.
Five thousand eight hundred forty-eight students from 54 Illinois high schools participated in this year’s Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, a free program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to encourage youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. The Illinois Arts Council Agency implements Poetry Out Loud statewide as a collaborative project with seven regional partners.
The Illinois Poetry Out Loud State Champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in April, to compete for the national championship. The state champion's school will also receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books, and a runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. Additionally, a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends will be awarded to the winners at the National Finals.
The sixteen students who will compete at the Illinois Poetry Out Loud statewide championship are:
REGION
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STUDENT
|
SCHOOL
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Central Illinois
|
Charday Crawford
|
Southeast High School (Springfield)
|
Central Illinois
|
Annie Kefalas
|
St. Teresa High School (Decatur)
|
Chicagoland - City
|
Miona Short
|
Walter Payton High School (Chicago)
|
Chicagoland - City
|
Raymond Hutchison
|
Taft High School (Chicago)
|
Chicagoland - Suburbs
|
Melissa Daniels
|
Homewood-Flossmoor High School (Flossmoor)
|
Chicagoland - Suburbs
|
Raphael Mathis
|
Plainfield East High School (Plainfield)
|
Eastern Illinois
|
Alexx Valdez
|
Urbana High School (Urbana)
|
Eastern Illinois
|
Janjay Knowlden
|
Champaign Central High School (Champaign)
|
Northern Illinois
|
Anna Lepke
|
Jefferson High School (Rockford)
|
Northern Illinois
|
Caitlin Harmon
|
Auburn High School (Rockford)
|
South Central Illinois
|
Emily Swanson
|
Edwardsville High School (Edwardsville)
|
South Central Illinois
|
Elixxa Warner
|
Alton High School (Alton)
|
Southern Illinois
|
Kristin Doty
|
Agape Christian School (Marion)
|
Southern Illinois
|
Bryce Wiley
|
Agape Christian School (Marion)
|
Western Illinois
|
Brianna Gray
|
United Township High School (East Moline)
|
Western Illinois
|
Shelby Hoffman
|
Orion High School (Orion)
|
For more information regarding Illinois’ regional and school Poetry Out Loud competitions, please contact the Illinois Arts Council Agency’s partnering organization directly:
Region
|
Partner
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Contact
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Email
|
Telephone
|
Central Illinois
|
Springfield Area Arts Council
|
Sheila Walk
|
217/753-3519
|
|
Chicagoland
|
Literature for All of Us
|
Liz McCabe
|
847-404-4390
|
|
Eastern Illinois
|
40 North/88 West (Champaign)
|
Amanda Baker
|
217/351-9841
|
|
Northern Illinois
|
Rockford Area Arts Council
|
Sharon Nesbit-Davis
|
815/963-6765
|
|
South Central Illinois
|
Jacoby Arts Center (Alton)
|
Melissa Crockett
|
618/462-5222
|
|
Southern Illinois
|
Carbondale Community Arts
|
Nancy Stemper
|
618/457-5100
|
|
Western Illinois
|
Quad City Arts (Rock Island)
|
Tracy Alan White
|
563/579-7630
|
For more information about the Poetry Out Loud program, visit www.poetryoutloud.org.
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