GONZALES — Gonzales High School student Anixia Davila was among the winners of the 2023 Monterey County Poetry Out Loud Contest.
Poetry Out Loud — presented in partnership with the Arts Council for Monterey County, National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation — is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a recitation competition for high school students across the country.
Locally, the 2023 contest took place Feb. 4 at the CSUMB Alumni and Visitors Center in Seaside, where 17 high school students participated. Competing high schools included: Alisal, Everett Alvarez, Gonzales, North Monterey County, Notre Dame, Pacific Grove, Pacific Valley School, Palma School, Rancho San Juan, Stevenson School and York School.
Monterey County Poet Laureate Daniel Summerhill was host of the Saturday event, featuring this year’s judges Eric Mora, Ben Heinrich, Ernesto Lizaola and Elana Kline-Thompson.
Students recited works selected from an anthology of more than 1,200 poems. Judges evaluated their performances on criteria that included voice and articulation, evidence of understanding and accuracy.
Davila, a junior at Gonzales High, tied for second place in the annual competition with Chloe Haggquist from Stevenson School. The 16-year-old is the daughter of Lorena and Rafael Davila.
“She loves to read books, paint and listen to music,” Summerhill said while introducing Davila to the stage. “When she grows up, she aspires to go into the medical field.”
Davila recited the poem, “We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Maya Flores, also from Gonzales High, received special recognition as a runner-up. Flores recited the poem, “And If I Did, What Then?” by George Gascoigne.
This year’s first-place winner was Karina Torres from North Monterey County High School, while Hailie Atkinson from Pacific Grove High School took third.
“Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Poetry Out Loud High School Competition,” the Arts Council stated on social media. “…The Arts Council for Monterey County is the proud partner and host for Poetry Out Loud.”
Torres will now advance to the California Poetry Out Loud virtual contest on March 19. The California champion will receive $200 and advance to the national finals next spring, when $50,000 in awards and school/organizational stipends will be distributed.
“It’s really cool to know that poetry is again a testament to connection and us understanding and the desire to be understood. That’s a function of poetry,” Summerhill said. “…Please continue to support the arts, continue to support Poetry Out Loud, continue to go to Arts Council for Monterey County events and programming because it’s important that we uplift and recognize the arts, especially poetry, which is often not supported.”
The National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation have created free, standards-based curriculum materials to support Poetry Out Loud, including a teacher’s guide, lesson plans, an online anthology, posters and video and audio on the art of recitation. These resources are available for free at PoetryOutLoud.org.
Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.1 million students across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud. To learn more about the California Poetry Out Loud contest, visit capoetryoutloud.org.
Watch the entire 2023 Poetry Out Loud event below:
