The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered with U.S. state arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, a contest that encourages the nations youth to learn about great poetry through memorizaton and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literacy heritage. After successful pilot programs in Washington, DC, and Chicago, Poetry Out Loud was launched in high schools in the spring 2006 and has grown to involve millions of students across the country.

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals. Each winner at the state level receives two hundred dollars and an all expenses paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to complete for the national championship. The state winner’s school receives five hundred dollars stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner up in each state receives one hundred dollars, with two hundred for his or her school library. A total of fifty thousand dollars in awards and school stipends is awarded annually at the National Finals.

Kids get to go to the Poetry Out Loud website and pick from all the different poems that are on there and get a certain amount of time to memorize it and recite it to their class. It normally takes place in their English class and students are either chosen or volunteer to say their poem in front of the entire school. A winner for the school is then picked and can move on to the next stage, performing for many different people.