Central Maine students among Poetry Out Loud state winners

AUGUSTA – Students from across central Maine were among the 10 Maine Poetry Out Loud competition winners announced March 22.
The students won school and regional competitions before competing in the state competition in early March.
For the regional and state finals this year, Maine high school students submitted recorded video recitations that were scored by a panel of judges.
The state winner is Sofya Lantratova, a senior from George Stevens Academy, Blue Hill. Lantratova will represent Maine in the National Poetry Out Loud Semifinals in May which, like the state competition, will be held virtually.
Runnerup is Colette Carrillo, a senior at Waterville Senior High School.
Other winners are:
Emma Bennett, Baxter Academy of Technology and Science, Portland;
Emelia Bailey, Westbrook High School;
Sadie Luehman, Medomak Valley High School, Waldoboro;
Ogechi Obi, Bangor High School;
Julia Ordway, Gorham High School;
Brett Palmer, Gardiner Area High School;
Chloe Schueman, Greely High School, Cumberland;
Rose Tuttle, Mount Ararat High School, Topsham.
The Maine State Finals judges were Mihku Paul, Kate Fletcher, Salim Salim and Todd McKinley.
Lantratova recited “Emily Dickinson at The Poetry Slam,” by Dan Vera; “Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; and “We Lived Happily During the War,” by Ilya Kaminsky.
The national semifinals will stream live Sunday. The top nine students will advance to the national finals, which will stream on Sunday, June 5. Both the semifinals and finals will be streamed at arts.gov.
Because students were not able to gather to compete in person, the Maine Arts Commission is partnering with Portland based Media Loma to create a film to celebrate the event and showcase the students’ hard work and talent. The film will include three rounds of student recitation videos, as well as a recitation from Maine’s Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma, of Kingfield. Former Maine Poetry Out Loud State Champion Allan Monga, will be MC.
Maine’s Poetry Out Loud program is organized by the Maine Arts Commission in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.