Date: January 26, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Historic Grammar School, 110 Broad St., Sutter Creek,
CA 95685 (access via Randolph to Fullen Street)
Contact: Meghan O’Keefe, (209) 256-8166, info@amadorarts.org
The Amador County Arts Council invites you to join us for the Amador Poetry Out Loud (POL) Championship on January 26, 2025, at the Historic Sutter Creek School House. Starting at 2:00 PM, high school students from across the region will gather to compete in a lively and engaging poetry recitation contest. This event will be held in the bottom-floor front room of the Historic Grammar School and promises to be a celebration of youth, literature, and the power of public speaking.
Poetry Out Loud is a national competition designed to encourage high school students to read, analyze, and memorize poetry. Participants will recite poems of their choice from the POL anthology, showcasing their skills in performance, memorization, and literary interpretation. Judges will evaluate their recitations based on performance quality, accuracy, and emotional connection to the work.
The winner of the Amador County Championship will move on to represent our region in the statewide competition in Sacramento, taking place on March 16th-17th, 2025, with a chance to win up to $20,000 in scholarships.
While the judges tally their scores, enjoy additional poetry recitations from local Junior High students and hear remarks from Amador’s Poet Laureates, Margaret Lewis and Deja Douglas. Additionally, the audience will have the opportunity to vote on the winning POL Logo for 2025, which will be featured on the popular Amador POL sweatshirt and sticker, given as prizes to the student competitors.
Our panel of judges this year includes Calaveras Poet Laureate Linda Toren, Amador Poet Laureate Margaret Lewis, Cultural Arts Teacher Connie Chai McKenney, Arts Administrator Lisa Lasky, and local poet Dr. Amy Champ.
The Poetry Out Loud competition is open to all ages, and everyone is welcome to attend. Poetry is the voice of the people, and at this event, every participant and spectator is part of the community of poets. Lily Fawver, the 2023 Amador POL winner, shared that her participation in this event “has shaped me”—a sentiment that reflects the power of this competition to build confidence, performance skills, and a deeper connection to poetry.
About the Amador County Arts Council
The Amador County Arts Council, established in 1982, is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to developing,
elevating, and celebrating the arts in Amador County. Through a
variety of programs and events, the Council helps foster a
culture of arts learning, offering free art classes, music
events, poetry gatherings, and more. As a State-Local Partner to
the California Arts Council, the Amador County Arts Council is
dedicated to enriching the community through the arts.
For more information about the Poetry Out Loud program and to learn more about the Amador County Arts Council, please visit our website at amadorarts.org, or contact us at info@amadorarts.org or (209) 256-8166.