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Natalie Harris from Summerville High School recites a poem at the Tuolumne County Poetry Out Loud competition on Feb. 11 at the St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Sonora.
Natalie Harris from Summerville High School will represent Tuolumne County at the Poetry Out Loud state finals later this month.
Harris won the Tuolumne County Poetry Out Loud competition held Feb. 11 at St. James Episcopal Church (The Red Church) in Sonora and recently submitted a video for the state finals, which will be streamed live via Zoom starting at 5 p.m. this Sunday, March 19 (see below for details on how to watch.)
Natalie Harris from Summerville High School recites a poem at the Tuolumne County Poetry Out Loud competition on Feb. 11 at the St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Sonora.
Courtesy photo / Gary Johnson
Should she win the state championship, Natalie will receive $200 cash, $500 for Summerville High School to use to purchase literary materials, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., May 8-10 for the national finals competition.
Noah Diamond was runner-up in the county competition.
The program’s goal is to encourage students to study great poetry and to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life. They are judged on interpretation, presentation and accuracy.
Participants choose two poems from an online Poetry Out Loud anthology early in the year, then work with their teachers for the school competition. Tuolumne County Poetry Out Loud coordinator Carol Woods coaches the finalists as they prepare for county and state competitions.
Tuolumne County was represented at the national competition in 2015 and 2017 — both times by Levi Lowe, then a student at Sonora High School.
Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 4.1 million students and 68,000 teachers from 17,000 schools nationwide, according to its website (www.poetryoutloud.org).
The nationwide poetry recitation competition is supported by the California Arts Council, the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sonora Area Foundation and Front Porch are longtime supporters of the local event.
For more information on Tuolumne County Arts, email Executive Director Laurie Livingston at laurie@tuolumnecountyarts.org.
How to watch the state finals
The 2023 Poetry Out Loud state finals hosted by the California Arts Council will be streamed live via Zoom beginning at 5 p.m. this Sunday, March 19.
