Artspace 304 Announces the Winners of the Region One Poetry Out Loud Competition with local High School students
Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/09/2025 - 03/17/2025
12:00 am
Categories
Artspace 304 Announces the Winners of the Region One Poetry Out Loud Competition with local
High School students Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts & Poetry Foundation
Carbondale, IL—Artspace 304 held the Region One Poetry Out Loud Competition in our Neil and Mary
Ellen Dillard Media and Performance Gallery on February 9th, 2025. The student winners of the
competition are Alaina Morgan & Jayden Richardson, both of Freeburg Community High School. Alaina
Morgan, the first-place winner & Jayden Richardson, the runner-up, will compete in this year’s State
Poetry Out Loud Competition on March 17th in Springfield, IL.
During each of the two rounds of competition, students recited poems they selected, studied and
memorized. A panel of 3 local judges scored each performance, and at the end of the competition, Alaina
Morgan was the first-place winner. She will join the runner-up, Jayden Richardson, representing Southern
Illinois at the state competition. The winner and runner-up of the state competition in Springfield will
advance to the National Poetry Out Loud competition later in the spring, in Washington D.C.
Poetry Out Loud – presented in partnership with the Illinois Arts Council, National Endowment for the
Arts, and the Poetry Foundation – is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great
poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school
students across the country. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.3 million students across the
country have participated in the Poetry Out Loud contest.
Artspace 304 supports Southern Illinois’ diverse and vibrant cultural arts community by growing
leadership, education, funding, connections, and regional economic development. Visit artspace304.org
for more information on our exhibitions, programming, and events.