Grace Orwen Qualifies for State Poetry Out Loud Contest at Sheldon Art Gallery March 12

February 11, 2016

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Seward High Junior, Grace Orwen of Seward, was selected one of the state representatives at the Northeast Nebraska Regional Semi-Finals for Poetry Out Loud poetry recitation contest in Norfolk on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at the Norfolk Arts Center.  Grace presented two poems she committed to memory-“The Tyger” by William Blake and “American Smooth” by Rita Dove. 

Grace now advances to the next and final level of competition to be held on March 12, 2016 at the Sheldon Art Gallery Auditorium on the University of Nebraska Lincoln campus at 1:00 pm.  She will compete for the right to represent Nebraska at the National Poetry Out Loud contest in Washington DC and the scholarships connected with the program.  Grace originally competed at the local level at Seward High and was selected over 50 local students to represent Seward High in a program sponsored by the Seward Arts Council and was the official representative for Seward at the regional Poetry Out Loud recitation contest in Norfolk.

Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation scholarship program-where, at the regionals, students are asked select and memorize two poems of choice from the Poetry Out Loud website and compete in a public setting.  At the state level, they must present three poems-one that is pre-nineteenth century and less than 25 lines.  The students are judged on the accuracy, level of understanding, physical presence, and dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty and overall presentation of the poem.  The contest is sponsored by the Nebraska Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Poetry Foundation and the Nebraskan’s for the Arts.  Locally, Grace was sponsored by the Seward Arts Council and the School District of Seward. 

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She and all of the participants were presented with a certificate of participation, a book on poetry and various mementos from the Norfolk Arts Center.

Other finalists selected at the regional were Ethan Milleson of York High School, Jesse Kruse of Cedar Catholic High School, and Hope Stratman of Skutt Catholic High in Omaha.  Approximately twelve students will be selected finalists from the regionals across Nebraska.

Clark Kolterman serves as her coach and sponsor for the project.