Hello, Michigan library community, I'm writing to remind you of our deadline for Michigan's Poetry Out Loud program, which is coordinated by our team here at Michigan Humanities in collaboration with the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. We are asking that all interested partners register by Wednesday, Dec. 11. If that deadline is not possible for you, please let me know; we have flexibility this month! As you may know, Poetry Out Loud<https://www.michiganhumanities.org/poetry-out-loud/> is a national poetry recitation competition for high school students. It is in its 20th year and was launched by the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage students to learn about existing works of poetry through memorization and performance, and build public speaking skills and self-confidence. The program and all materials are provided to each partner at no cost. Poetry Out Loud is flexible and scalable; you can start with just a few interested students in January of 2025! Each year, participating schools or community organizations (like public or school libraries and other youth-serving organizations) host their own local competitions and select a student to represent their community at the state finals. The Michigan state champion advances to the national finals in Washington, D.C. and competes for a $20,000 college scholarship. At the 2024 State Finals event in Lansing, both students and teachers took part in a welcome dinner and poetry workshops, and 19 school champions competed in three rounds of competition. Nandi Comer, Michigan's Poet Laureate, led the student workshop and emceed several rounds of competition. You can see a little peek at the State Finals via Detroit PBS's coverage of it here<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE5GvwM2eIE>. Overall, throughout the 2023-24 school year, 23 organizations partnered with Michigan Poetry Out Loud, including an estimated 85 teachers and 3,800 students. If you are interested in learning more, please contact me via email and/or join us for a meeting of Poetry Out Loud partners (new, returning, and potential) at the times below this week and next: * Wednesday, Dec. 11: 4 to 5 p.m. * Thursday, Dec. 12: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. * Monday, Dec. 16: 3 to 4 p.m. You can RSVP for a meeting here<https://forms.gle/xXTR8KMwGZshiSKH9> through a quick Google form, and then I'll send you the Zoom link. Have a great week ahead, and I look forward to talking with you soon! Katie Katie Wittenauer (she/her) Director of Programs | kwittenauer@mihumanities.org<mailto:kwittenauer@mihumanities.org> | LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiewittenauer/> Connecting, Sharing, Growing [A blue and white badge with gold ribbon Description automatically generated] Michigan Humanities 2364 Woodlake Drive, Suite 100 Okemos, MI 48864 517-372-7770, ext. 294 Website<http://michiganhumanities.org> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MichiganHumanities> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/mihumanities/?hl=en> Mission: Bringing people together through stories, histories, cultures, and conversations.