2025 Poetry Out Missouri State Champion Louisa Blackmoore | photo, Lloyd Grotjan
POETRY OUT LOUD
Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition for high school students. It nurtures creative expression, builds mastery of language, and enhances presentation skills of participants in all 50 states and five territories.
Beginning at the school level, contestants can progress to regional and state championships, and then on to the national finals.
Missouri’s 2025 Poetry Out Loud state champion was Louisa Blackmoore, at that time a senior at Crossroads College Preparatory School in St. Louis for the 2024/25 school year.
Missouri’s 2026 state championship will be held March 3 in Columbia. The winner will compete in the national contest in Washington, D.C. on April 27-29. Poetry Out Loud 2026 is embracing the America 250 celebration with a new and focused anthology of poets whose works are eligible for the competion.
“Students tell us this dynamic competition has a powerful impact on their lives,” said Michael Donovan, Missouri Arts Council executive director. “Poetry Out Loud reaches students in schools all over Missouri. We are proud to have been part of this program from its beginning in 2006.”
Poetry Out Loud encourages the study of great poetry by providing free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high school students across the country. Competitions start in individual high schools or with local organizations such as libraries and other nonprofits. The winners of one tier of competition advance to the next. The competition culminates at the national finals with the 53 students who won their state or territory’s championship.
Poetry Out Loud helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. The program was created in 2006 by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and is supported by the NEA, and state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Missouri has participated in Poetry Out Loud from the beginning. The Missouri Arts Council and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education work in partnership to bring Poetry Out Loud to Missouri.
MISSOURI’S REGIONAL CHAMPIONS OF POETRY OUT LOUD 2026
• Osvin Alaphat, St. Louis City Region | St. Louis
University High School
• Stella Cone, Kansas City Region | Warrensburg High School
• Claire Dunkin, Central Region | Hickman High School
• Salvador Gonzalez, Southwest Region | Stockton High School
• Freya Gordon, St. Louis County Region | Nerinx Hall High School
• Katelynn Hahs, Southeast Region | Woodland R-IV High School
• Levi Soyars, St. Charles County Region | Freedom Christian Learning Center
20 YEARS OF POETRY OUT LOUD IN MISSOURI
From the first national Poetry Out Loud in 2006 through today, these are Missouri’s state champions.
2025 | Louisa Blackmoore, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2024 | Julie Clayton, Nerinx Hall High School, Webster Groves
2023
| Nick Merlo, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2022 | Ava Maupin, School of the Osage High School, Osage Beach
2021 | Mattie Mills, Notre Dame de Sion High School, Kansas City
2020 | Mary Margaret Hughes, Central High School, Springfield
2019 | Kate Brown, Stockton High School, Stockton
2018 | Shakira Cross, Hickman High School, Columbia
2017 | Emily Bauer, Parkway West High School, St. Louis County
2016 | Sarah Koo, Parkway North High School, St. Louis County
2015 | Maya Bryant, Holt High School, Wentzville
2014 | Thomas Fields, St. Louis University High School, St. Louis
2013
| Essence Imani Lee, Crossroads College Preparatory School, St. Louis
2012
| Cameron Locke, Stockton High School, Stockton
2011 |
Terry Watkins, Jr., Crossroads College Preparatory, St. Louis
2010 | Nicole Andrews, Springfield R-12 Central High School, Springfield
2009 | Pete Winfrey, St. Louis University High School, St. Louis
2008 | Aryiel Everett, Park Hill South High School, Riverside
2007 | Michael Brown, Blue Springs High School, Blue Springs
2006 | Aislinn Lowry, Jefferson City High School, Jefferson City
RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS
Schools begin to register for Poetry Out Loud every fall at the beginning of the academic year. Check these resources to learn more about how the program works and the benefits it brings to students and schools. Also, contact Jenni Ryan, Missouri Arts Council arts education specialist, at jenni.ryan.ltgov.mo.gov or 314-340-6857.
- Poetry Out Loud national program
- National Endowment for the Arts pages about Poetry Out Loud
- Poetry Out Loud: Best High School Poetry Activity Ever – Marilyn Yung, English teacher in Urbana, Missouri, tells the story of her adventures with running the 2022 program for Hickory County Skyline High School. “Poetry Out Loud is simply one of the best things I’ve done in my 11 years of teaching!”
- Letter from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to school superintendents describing the 2021-22 program and how Poetry Out Loud benefits schools
- Article by the National Association of State Arts Agencies lauding the program’s life-changing “power of poetry and partnership”