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Branson and Tam Students Named Winner and Runner up in Marin "Poetry Out Loud" Contest.

Jason Byer wins local competition that emphasizes language skill and public speaking; advances to the state finals in Sacramento on March 14.

Jason Byer, from Branson School, took first place in the Marin "Poetry Out Loud" competition on Saturday, February 9. Malachia Hoover, from Tamalpais High School, was the runner up. Thousands of students across the state are participating in the national recitation contest, a program run locally by the Marin Arts Council, by the California Arts Council in the state and started by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to engage high-school students in the presentation of poetry through memorization and performance. Byer advances to the California state finals in Sacramento on March 14, 2008. Photos of both finalists will be included in the state Poetry Out Loud poster. At stake are hundreds of dollars on the state competition level and thousands at the national finals of Poetry Out Loud.

The theatre at 142 Throckmorton in Mill Valley was filled with families, friends, and students from the five high schools that had finalists in the competition. Each of the five finalists recited two poems in two separate rounds. Judges included poets Kay Ryan, Roy Mash, Gerald Fleming and author Tracy Grant. Students received scores based on physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty of the poem, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy.

Jeanne Bogardus, Executive Director of the Marin Arts Council, which hosted the event, said that she was impressed by the selection of poems by the students and the ability of all the finalists to truly reach the audience. "I was moved to tears at least three different times, and I wasn't alone. It was obvious that each of the five finalists had given a great deal of thought to the selection of their poems, a great deal of time and work to the memorization of them, and a great deal of understanding and emotional wisdom to bring them to the stage."

Byer recited the poems Chicago by Carl Sandburg and I am learning to abandon the world by Linda Pastan. Hoover performed Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye and Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. The public can visit the POL website at www.poetryoutloud.org to view these and hundreds of other poems that students can choose for their recitations. The site also includes information about poets, last year's competitions, and more.

Byer will need to have prepared 3 poems for recitation at the state finals, with one poem required to be pre-20th century, and one poem required to be under 25 lines in length. Hoover will also be expected to be prepared to recite three poems at the state competition should Byer be unable to attend.

Other finalists on Saturday included Peter Carroll, San Marin High; Skylar Collins, San Rafael High; and Ryan Russell of Redwood High School.

The Poetry out Loud program seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry: recitation and performance. Poetry Out Loud competitions start in the classroom, then at the school, region, state, and national finals, similar to the structure of the spelling bee. The national initiative is part of an attempt to bring literary arts to students, a critical need in U.S. schools, according to a 2004 NEA report Reading at Risk that found a dramatic decline in literary reading, especially among younger readers.

For more information on the winner and runner up or to set up interviews, contact Jeanne Bogardus, (415) 448-0369. General information can be found at www.cac.ca.gov and www.poetryoutloud.org, and reporters interested in more information about the statewide program may contact California Arts Council communications director Mary Beth Barber at mbarber@caartscouncil.com or 916-322-6588.