The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts has announced that Ella Weinmann from Conant High School is the winner of the 2023 New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud High School Championship. Lilah Bartholomew from Kearsarge Regional High School was selected as alternate champion.

Weinmann will represent New Hampshire at the national finals, which are scheduled to take place in Washington D.C., May 8 to 10. Should Weinmann be unable to participate in the finals, Bartholomew will represent the Granite State at that event.

Each year, thousands of students from across the state participate in New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud, choosing poems to memorize and recite from a catalog curated by the Poetry Foundation and the NEA. Competitions begin at the classroom level, advance to school championships and then to semifinals, with the state championship taking place at the State House in Concord.

In 2023, eight top performers from the semifinals advanced to the New Hampshire state championship held on March 17. Each student recited two poems in the qualifying round; the four students with the highest scores moved onto a final round, where they recited a third poem.

Recitations throughout the competition are judged on several criteria, including physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding and accuracy and overall performance.

As state champion, Weinmann receives $200 and Conant High School receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Bartholomew will receive $100, with a $200 stipend given to Kearsarge Regional High School for its poetry book collection.

The state championship was recorded and will be available on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts’ YouTube channel, which can be accessed from the Poetry Out Loud section of the Council’s website, nh.gov/nharts.

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