Council wants youths to compete for title

    (PNAN-ND) –  Who will be the next McGarths, Lowmans, an author of another “Northern Lights” as well as an ‘Early Cutting’ Roland Flint that will “When they take the winter wheat at home, all other crops are green. In granaries and tight truck boxes, farm boys are slow scoop-shovel metronomes, singing harvest deep in the grain…” from the “Peace Garden State” in 2011?

     The deadline is Friday, January 14, 2011 for schools to sign up for the statewide Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, which is coordinated by the North Dakota Council on the Arts. The program is for students in grades nine through twelve, designed not only to expand their literary knowledge, but also strengthen memory, sharpen public speaking skills as well as learn about great poetry.

     The Poetry Out Loud program runs between January and March and it requires less than two or three weeks of class time. A Registration form is available for teachers at www.nd.gov/arts/whatsnew/POL.html or call 701.328.7593;  or Email: lehreth@nd.gov for more information. The competition begins at the classroom level, with winners advancing to a school-wide competition, then to State Finals at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck on March 15, 2011. One student from each state competes at the National Finals in Washington DC in April 27-29, 2011, where $50,000 dollars in scholarships and school prizes will be awarded.

     Additional program curriculum materials are free for use and available either in print and online. The anthologies contain more than 400 classic and contemporary poems; a teacher’s guide to help instructors teach recitation and performance; and a CD featuring well-known actors and writers such as, Anthony Hopkins, James Earl Jones, Alysso Milano, David Schwimmer, and N. Scott Momaday at www.poetryoutloud.org.