Poetry Out Loud is offering an additional competition for original student work for the 2023 National Finals. Each 2023 state champion will have the opportunity to submit one original work of either written or spoken poetry. A winner and runner-up will be selected for each category. Winners and runners-up will be announced during the Poetry Out Loud National Finals on Wednesday, May 10th and winning work may be featured on the National Endowment for the Arts website and the Poetry Out Loud website. Submissions without an accompanying permission form by the time of the deadline will not be reviewed. The 2023 Poetry Out Loud guest poet, who will be announced after the Poetry Ourselves submission deadline closes, will judge the entries. Previous guest poets have included Chen Chen, Eve L. Ewing, and Carmen Giménez Smith.

This competition is only open to 2023 Poetry Out Loud State Champions.

The 2023 competition is closed.

PERMISSIONS

I will read and sign, or have a parent and/or guardian read and sign, the appropriate permission form below, and e-mail it to poetryoutloud@arts.gov. This form gives the Arts Endowment permission to publish and share my original work, both online and elsewhere. I understand that the permission form is due by Monday, April 3rd at 11:59pm ET and is required for my participation in the Poetry Ourselves competition.

Permission Forms:

18 years old and older | 17 years old and younger

WHAT TO SUBMIT

Written submission:

Submit an original poem, typed and no longer than 50 lines in Word or PDF.

Spoken word submission:

Submit a video (mov or mp4 file) of an original, spoken-word poem no longer than 3 minutes.