With an all expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and $50,000 in scholarships at stake, nerves were high for student finalists competing in the fifth annual Poetry Out Loud Contest. The competition was held in Rosemont High School’s auditorium, and the winner will move on to the state finals. The regional contest was limited to 18 students from various Sacramento County high schools, who were chosen by their high schools to compete on Feb. 3. One student did not show up to the competition. This year’s winner, Brittany Wiltz, a 16-year-old from Natomas Charter School, and runner-up, Ashay Kobelt, from Elk Grove High School, will be competing in the state finals on March 20 and 21 in Sa

18 students from Sacramento County will begin competing this Thursday for a college scholarship in the Sixth annual Poetry Out Loud contest at Rosemont High School. Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest founded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. These groups generally collaborate with state arts agencies to promote Poetry Out Loud. For Sacramento County, the California Arts Council has collaborated with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and Sacramento County Office of Education. Poetry Out Loud began as two pilot programs in Washington, D.C. and Chicago in 2005. After a successful turnout, community support and large student participati

Thousands of students across the country are bringing poetry to life by competing in this year's Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. This is the contest's fifth year, and it is growing rapidly, influencing thousands of high school students to learn and perform poetry. Kristin Margolis, the California state contact from the California Arts Council, said that "there is an incredible demand for the program, with 300,000 participants nationwide this year." "California has the most competing in the nation," Margolis said. "We will have 40,000 students from 27 counties, which is a big jump from the 24 counties that competed last year and 20 counties the year before that." The progr