Honolulu Theatre for Youth and the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Launch 2024 Poetry Out Loud Competition

Join Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) and the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA) as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Poetry Out Loud® throughout Hawaiʻi this school year. Poetry Out Loud lifts poetry off the page, creating community and connection. Through this program—a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation—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. 

“Poetry Out Loud immerses students in the power of words and performance, creating a unique opportunity for the development of their self-expression and confidence; abilities that will serve them for many years to come,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “During this special anniversary year, we are grateful for the work of the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Honolulu Theatre for Youth for making this opportunity available to students throughout Hawaiʻi .” 

Now through early January 2025, schools are invited to hold classroom and school wide contests, with students advancing to a state competition on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at Tenney Theatre in downtown Honolulu. Non-school organizations, such as after school clubs, libraries, or nonprofit organizations, may also choose to run Poetry Out Loud contests. HTY will also offer a video submission contest for interested students whose school or organization is not participating. Students may only compete in one stream—either with their school, an organization, or as an individual student. As part of Poetry Out Loud, the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation also offers free, standards-based curriculum materials—all available online— which teachers may choose to use in their classrooms. These include an online poetry anthology containing more than 1,200 classic and contemporary poems, a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, posters, and videos on the art of poetry recitation. These materials are all free to access at PoetryOutLoud.org. 

State champions will advance to the national finals, which are planned to take place in Washington, DC, May 5-7, 2025, where $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be distributed. 

Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.4 million students across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud. Hawai’i began participating in 2006 and over the years more than 50 different public, charter, and private schools and homeschool networks have participated representing Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Hawaii Island. 

"Poetry Out Loud continues to be one of my favorite events of the year, as it provides young people the experience to not only learn about, but activate poetry," said Karen Ewald, Executive Director of SFCA. "We encourage high school students to engage in not only the state wide, but nation wide celebration of poetry."