Devin
Jones of West Jordan High School
Wins State
Poetry Out Loud Finals
Tony
Madrid of East Hollywood High School named runner-up
SALT
LAKE CITY - Devin Jones of West Jordan High School took home top honors from
the state finals for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, presented
by Utah Arts & Museums on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at the Black Box Theatre
in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. Jones will receive $200 and travel
expenses to represent Utah in the national championship in April in Washington,
D.C. His school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.
Runner-up Tony Madrid of East Hollywood High School in West Valley City will
receive $100, with $200 for his school library. Poetry Out Loud will award a $20,000
college scholarship to the national champion.
Approximately
3,549 students from 26 high schools around the state participated in Poetry Out
Loud activities and competed in school and regional competitions. Regional
competitions were held in the Uintah Basin, Iron County, Utah County, Sanpete
County, and the southern end of Salt Lake County. Schools unable to participate
in a regional competition competed in a preliminary competition held in the
afternoon prior to the state finals. At the Black Box Theatre, students recited
works they selected from an anthology of nearly 600 classic and contemporary
poems. Students competing at the Rose Wagner included:
Tony
Madrid, East Hollywood High School (West Valley City)
Jenney
Kim, Hurricane High School (Hurricane)
Elizabeth
Malone, Lehi High School (Lehi)
Rowan
Hadlock, North Sanpete High School (Mt. Pleasant)
Joshua
Graham, Union High School (Roosevelt)
Devin
Jones, West Jordan High School (West Jordan)
This
was the first time participating in Poetry Out Loud for state champion Jones, a
junior; he said it was his first time performing onstage, period. "I read a lot
of poems, and then I picked the ones I understood, the ones that spoke to me
the most," he noted. He worked without a coach, studying each line carefully
and thinking about the emotions behind the lines. His poems were "Alone," by
Edgar Allan Poe; "Across the Bay," by Donald Davie; and "The Oldest Living
Thing in L.A.," by Larry Levis. His advice to future competitors: "Practice
your poem over and over, until you can say it without thinking about it."
Judges
were Kim Burningham, Paula Fowler, Todd
Robert Petersen and Jennifer
Tonge. The judges use a comprehensive scoring rubric
provided by the competition sponsors, the National Endowment for the Arts and
the Poetry Foundation. Competitors were judged on their physical presence, voice and articulation,
dramatic appropriateness of the performance, level of poem difficulty, evidence
of poem understanding, and overall performance. In addition, accuracy
judges score the students on how precisely they recite the poems.
"These
students are so remarkable," said Margaret Hunt, Utah Arts & Museums
Director. "Their compelling performances of these literary masterworks are a
delight to watch. We´re very proud of them, and each one deserves our sincere
congratulations."
Justine
Haka of the Poetry Foundation, one of the national sponsors of the competition,
attended the state finals and echoed Hunt´s comments, noting that "the quality
of the students competing in Utah is very high."
Utah
has had four finalists in the national top ten. Last year, senior MarKaye
Hassan of Logan High School took third place in the national finals. She
competed against 53 state champions. Of those champions, nine finalists competed
in the finals. Hassan received the third-place prize and a $5,000 award. She
was also invited to return to Washington, D.C., to recite at the National Book
Festival. In 2008, Skyline High School senior Madison Niermeyer also placed
third at the national competition and received a $5,000 scholarship award. Niermeyer
was contacted by noted Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti to congratulate her
on her recitation of his poem "I Am Waiting."
The
state finals were a festive event, with Utah actress Anne Cullimore Decker serving
as the emcee and the Daniel Day Trio providing music during the breaks. Winners
were congratulated by Department of Heritage and Arts Executive Director Julie
Fisher. The audience was treated to poetry recitations by Utah Poet Laureate Lance
Larsen and by Utah poets Mike Dorrell and Willy Palomo.
Poetry
Out Loud, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and
the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high
school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance,
and competition. Poetry Out Loud seeks
to foster the next generation of literary readers across the nation by
capitalizing on trends in poetry recitation and performance. The program builds
on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form by inviting the dynamic aspects
of slam poetry, the spoken word, and theatre into the English classroom.
Through Poetry Out Loud,
students master public-speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about
their literary heritage. For information on participating in next year´s event,
contact Jean Tokuda Irwin at 801.533.5760 or jirwin@utah.gov.
Photo: Devin
Jones. Photo by Kent Miles. Additional photos available upon request.
About Utah Arts & Museums
Utah
Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts
with a goal to promote innovation in and the growth of Utah´s arts and culture community. The division
provides funding, education, and technical services to individuals and
organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender,
ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand, and receive the benefits
of arts and culture. Additional information on the programs and services can be
found at artsandmuseums.utah.gov
or by calling 801.236.7555.
About Poetry Out Loud
The National Endowment
for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and state arts agencies work together to
bring Poetry Out Loud to high schools across the United States. After
successful pilot programs in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, the second phase of
Poetry Out Loud was launched nationwide in the spring of 2006 with tens of
thousands of students participating. More information about Poetry Out Loud can
be found at www.poetryoutloud.org.
Alyssa Hickman Grove
Constituent Relations & Media
617 E. South Temple, SLC, UT 84102
Phone: 801.236.7548
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