Kate McKeown is the 2008 Maine State Poetry Out Loud Champion


	Felicia Knight and First Lady, Karen Baldacci, congratulate Kate McKeown, Winner of the 2008 Maine State Poetry Out Loud Final

The Maine Arts Commission is thrilled to announce that 10th grade student Kate McKeown, a sophomore at Leavitt Area High School in Turner, will represent Maine at the National Poetry Out Loud Finals in Washington DC this coming April where she will compete for the first prize of a $20,000 college scholarship.

Kate's poetry recitation skills were stretched to the limit among a closely matched field at the state final. Having already competed at the school level, and at regional semi-finals, all ten of the finalists were well prepared and they performed their three poems with tremendous skill in front of a large and enthusiastic audience at Schaeffer Theatre in Lewiston last Saturday.

Competing students had over 500 poems to choose from during the competition and Kate settled on, "Fever 103” by Sylvia Plath, “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman and “Beauty” by Tony Hoagland. Her choices resonated with those in attendance.

Among those in attendance on Saturday was Maine's First Lady, Karen Baldacci, who made opening remarks and presented the trophies to the competing students. The First Lady, an educator herself, spoke of the key part that the arts play in education. "The arts are at the core of creativity," she told attendees, "and creativity is at the core of learning."

These sentiments were reflected by Donna McNeil, Director of the Maine Arts Commission. "This program is a wonderful way to introduce students to great literature, but it also teaches essential life skills such as public speaking, that will be useful throughout these students' lives." She went on to add, "This is one of those life changing events, and you could truly see this on the faces of each student as they competed."

The Poetry Out Loud competition is made possible by a unique partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and all of the nation's state arts agencies. It begins with over 100,000 students across the United States competing; over 1,000 of those competed within Maine this year. As winner of the state final Kate receives $200; her fellow students also benefit as their school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Kate also receives an all-expenses-paid trip (with a chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, DC, on April 28 – 29. Kate’s entire family and her coach Laura Mazzola are expected to make the trip. The second place finalist, Lydia McOscar of Bangor High School, received $100, with $200 going to her school library.


	Lydia McOscar, 2008 Poetry Out Loud Maine State Competition -2nd Place Photo by Arthur Fink Photography

For event highlights, please visit the Poetry Out Loud Maine State Competition video on YouTube
(note: Maine Arts Commission is not responsible for content on YouTube.)

We would like to thank the following organizations for their generous support of the 2008 Maine Poetry Out Loud Competitions:

The National Endowment for the Arts

The Poetry Foundation

Portland Stage Company
Anita Stewart, Director
25 Forest Avenue
Portland, ME

Schaeffer Theatre - Bates College
305 College Street
Lewiston, ME

For more information on Poetry Out Loud, contact Tina P. Mann at 207/287-6571 or visit www.poetryoutloud.org.


National Endowment for the Arts 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washinghton, DC 20506 www.arts.gov			Poetry Foundation 1030 North Clark Street, Suite 420 Chicago, IL 60610-5412 www.poetryfoundation.org