The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Honolulu Theater for Youth have announced the winners of the state finals for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. Tiffany Polk, a student at Kahuku High School, will receive an all-expenses-paid trip (with chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, DC, on April 28-29, with a chance to win a $20,000 college scholarship. She also won $500 for Kahuku High School to use to purchase poetry books, and a $200 cash prize.

Polk recited "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou and "Unknown Girl in a Maternity Ward" by Anne Sexton.

Cate Browning, a student at Mid-Pacific Institute, is the second place winner. She recited "I Am Learning to Abandon the World" by Linda Pastan and "A Blessing" by James Wright.

The competition, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. In this third year of Hawaii's implementation, all high schools around the state were invited to participate.

On March 9, more than 20 high school students from high schools all over the islands participated in the Poetry Out Loud semi finals and state finals at Tenney Theatre on the grounds of Saint Andrew's Cathedral.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. More than 150,000 students across the country are expected to take part in Poetry Out Loud this year.