Poetry Out Loud RI

04/30/2026

Congratulations to the Poetry Out Loud Rhode Island State Champion and National Finalist, Astrid Santos!

Astrid competed in the National Finals last night in Washington DC, which featured the top 9 students out a total of 130,000 who participated nationally, in 50 states and in 4 U.S. territories. As a national finalist, she will receive a $1,000 prize, and Classical High School will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials.

Congratulations again, Astrid! Rhode Island is so proud of you!

To see an interview with Astrid and watch her performance at the finals, go to Youtube.com and search "2026 Poetry Out Loud: Astrid Santos".

Photos by James Kegley for the National Endowment for the Arts.

04/28/2026

Congratulations to Astrid Santos for making it through the Poetry Out Loud Regional Semifinals in Washington D. C. today and advancing to the National Finals tomorrow! Stream the National Finals tomorrow night at 7PM EST here: https://poetryoutloud.org/

Astrid was one of three students chosen to advance in the Northeast region, which includes Virginia, New Jersey, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Virgin Islands, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

We are so proud of Astrid! Congratulations again!!

03/12/2026

Congratulations to Classical High School student Astrid Santos for winning first place in the Poetry Out Loud Championship Rhode Island State Championships on March 7th at the Greenwich Odeum! Astrid won with her stand-out recitation of the following poems: “Aunt Sue’s Stories,” Langston Hughes; “Saturday’s Child,” Countee Cullen; and “Our Own Twelve Anti-suffragist Reasons,” Alice Duer Miller.

Santos moves onto the regional competition starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 28 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. We wish her good luck!

During the state’s championship, Portsmouth Abbey School’s Peter Devaney placed second; La Salle Academy’s Arianna Roy netted third place; and honorable mentions went to Teeghan Riley, Central Falls High School, and Esra Erginbas, Moses Brown School.

Other R.I. finalists included:
• Gretchen Dechant, Providence Country Day School.
• Isabella Ramirez, East Providence High School.
• Hunter Riley D’Elia, Johnston High School.
• Holly Shilale, Chariho Regional High School.
• Jose Antonio Montano Bejarano, Central High School.

It was great event, and congratulations to all! Special thanks to this year’s Emcee, Marlon Carey, and guest poet Rene Manuel Ramos!

12/05/2025

There's still time for High Schools to register for 2026's Poetry Out Loud!

The registration deadline for the 2025-26 school year is Friday, December 19!

The national Poetry Out Loud Recitation Competition engages thousands of high school students each year, connecting them to great works of poetry, building self-confidence and public recitation skills. Each high school throughout the nation holds competitions to select a school champion who then goes on to compete at the state level. The state champion then heads to Washington, D.C., for the national competition and a top prize of $20,000.

Participating R.I. schools receive curriculum resources including Teaching Artists’ workshops, an Anthology of over 1,000 works of poetry, lesson plans and access to expanded competition preparation materials. The program is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and is sponsored by RISCA, which has participated in the competition for more than two decades.

Sign up your school today by contacting: Damont Combs, Program Director of Poetry Out Loud RI at [email protected].
Or filling out the form here:https://arts.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur946/files/2025-10/Registration%20Form%20POL%202025_2026_0.pdf

Learn more about Poetry Out Loud RI here: https://arts.ri.gov/programs/arts-education/poetry-out-loud

10/02/2025

CONGRATULATIONS to Classical High School’s Emmanuel Obisanya for winning the 2025 Poetry Out Loud Rhode Island State Championship! The State Finals were held on Saturday, March 8th, at the Providence Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island.

Central High School’s Jaydan Wirawan, Providence, placed second, and Jennifer Shon from Portsmouth Abbey School, Portsmouth, was third. Honorable mentions went to Sebastiana Lux Hernandez from Johnston High School, Johnston, and Mays Miller from Providence Country Day School, Providence.

After winning the State Championship, Obisanya went on to represent Rhode Island in the National Poetry Out Loud competition at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, DC on May 7th, 2025.

A special Thank You goes to guest poet Marlon Carey, the content judges April Brown, Lawrence Nunes and Lenore Rheaume, Paul Rheaume for accuracy, prompting support from Sarah Ashley, and tabulation support from Ellen House and Toni Rose. The Rhode Island Poetry Out Loud staff is Kate Lohman, Marlon Carey and Program Coordinator Damont Combs. Thank you to the Providence Public Library, the R.I. Center for the Book and Providence Athenaeum for their contributions to this event.

05/05/2024

https://youtu.be/3lIexoyGR-0?si=0wrvT7pPKqHe5fFT

Jennifer Shon, Rhode Island’s 2024 Poetry Out Loud Champion, is the 2024 Poetry Ourselves spoken poetry winner for the poem “My Hanbando.” A companion to Poe...

05/05/2024

Big congratulations to Jennifer Shon, our RI Poetry Out Loud Champion who also went on to capture the national title for original poem for Poetry Ourselves Jennifer is a student at the Portsmouth Abbey School. Her poem is remarkable and deserves the national award and attention.

03/27/2024

Congratulations to this year's Poetry Out Loud School Champions and Finalists. Another amazing year! Poems were thoughtful, well delivered and reflected confidence. Here are some of the photos from the event. Look for more photos and the video which is near completion.
Thank you for the support; students, teachers, families, friends and staff. Without you, none of this would happen.

08/13/2023

Just a quick smoke signal about an opportunity. Looking forward to connecting with all the Poetry Out Loud schools for the upcoming competition season.

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05/12/2023

A companion to Poetry Out Loud, the Poetry Ourselves competition gives students the opportunity to submit original poetry. The 2023 competition was open to Poetry Out Loud state and jurisdictional champions.

And here's the great news, Natasha B. Connolly, Rhode Island’s 2023 Poetry Out Loud Champion, is the 2023 Poetry Ourselves written poetry winner for the poem “Birdfolk at the End of the World.” We send congratulations and "job well done" to her. Oh and by the way, Natasha is also Rhode Island's current Youth Poetry Ambassador.

03/24/2023

Another view of the Poetry Out Loud 2023 competition We were treated to the poetry of Damont Combs and Marlon Carey. We saw casual moments between competitors and the last minute guidance of our Teaching Artists Pat Hawkridge and Damont Combs. All of this emceed skillfully by RISCA's Art in Education Director, Maggie Anderson. Thanks to all of our Judges, Prompter, Tabulators, our photographer, Jon Lavieri. RISCA Assistant. Arts in Education Emma Becker and the staff of the Odeum Theater None of this would take place without the support from the Poetry Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts !!!

03/24/2023

Poetry Out Loud RI has just completed another successful competion. The 2023 School Champions on stage at the Odeum Theater gave the audience thoughtful poems and considered interpretations. Each student gave the audience a moment, a word, an experience to remember. Nazarae Phillip from East Providence HS, Virginia Keister from Chariho Regional HS, Yiadalis Cardec from William M Davies Career and Technical HS, Natasha Connolly (1st place) from Classical HS, Payton Mays from Cranston HS West, Yosmairy Jimenez from St. Patrick Academy, Emerson Deschene from North Smithfield HS, Claire Fitzgerald from La Salle Academy, Iris Petrillo (Honorable Mention) from Providence Country Day School, Ashley Esteban (Honorable Mention) from Central Falls HS, Jephte Pinthiere (2nd place) from Central HS and Jennifer Shon (3rd place) from Portsmouth Abbey School completed the rounds and demonstrated "this is how you get it done!" Thanks to all the Teachers, Family and Friends who support these and all their students. See you next year!!