2025-2026 Poetry Out Loud Competition Registration Open Now!

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Poetry Out Loud is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies. The Mobile, Alabama program involves a FREE Find Your Voice Workshop in January, followed by the Region 1 Recitation Competition the following week. Winners at the Regional Level will advance to the Statewide Competition, who may advance to the National Competition.

Free Find Your Voice Workshop

The Region 1 Poetry Out Loud workshop will be January 24th, 2026 at the Ben May Main Library from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th through 12th-grade class. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition. The deadline to register for the 2025-2026 Poetry Out Loud Region 1 Competition is January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. There will be an opportunity to register for the competition at this workshop.

Competition Rules, Registration & Dates

The Region 1 Poetry Out Loud competition will be held Saturday, January 31st, 2026 at the Ben May Main Library at 11:00 a.m. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition. The deadline to register for the 2025-2026 Poetry Out Loud Region 1 Competition is January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

The Region 1 Poetry Out Loud competition will be held Saturday, January 25th, 2025. Region 1 consists of Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Choctaw, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Washington, and Wilcox counties. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9th-12th are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition.

There are a few updates for consideration for this year’s programming:

The following provides you with all of the State and National information currently available: 

State:  “Original and Social Issue Competitions will now be one competition and will mirror the National Anthology Competition with each student performing two original works and the top five will move on to a third and final round. We will also be introducing in the Original category a separate judging of the written poems. Works will be sent to the judges before the state finals, and they will be asked to judge the poem based on the written work.

Tentative date for State Competition 2026: February 26th, 2026, at Alabama Shakespeare Festival (9 a.m. and 1 p.m. start times). 

The registration form linked below should be filled out by the individual student planning to compete in the regional competition on January 31st, 2026 no later than Saturday, January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m .

If you are an educator or student in Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Choctaw, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia,
Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Washington, & Wilcox counties, contact Sydney Cramer, Region 1 Poetry Out Loud Coordinator, with any questions at scramer@mobilearts.org.