Liam McLaughlin, who placed first in the 2025 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals, will compete in the POL National Semi-Finals in Washington, DC on May 6th and 7th! Liam is a junior at Gary K. Herberger Young Scholar's Academy, and offered wonderful recitations of  "We Used Our Words We Used What Words We Had" by Franny Choi, "Songs for the People" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and "El Olvido" by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Liam demonstrated a remarkable ability to extract a poem's meaning and tell it through performance. 

You can watch Liam, and the rest of the 2025 Arizona State Finals competiton here: https://vimeo.com/1065652124

The National Semi-Finals competition will be held on May 6, 2025, from 5-8 pm ET/2-5 pm AZ time, and will be live streamed. You can watch it and support Liam here: https://www.arts.gov/

If Liam advances from the semi-finals round, he will also compete in the National Finals on May 7! That event will be held from 7 pm-9:15 pm ET/4 pm-6:15 pm AZ time, and will also be live streamed at the following link: https://www.arts.gov/

Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition for high school students that begins in the classroom and culminates in the National Finals in Washington, DC. Drawing upon elements of spoken word, theater, and slam poetry, Poetry Out Loud cultivates an appreciation of poetry that goes beyond the page. You can learn more about the program here.