By ALEXANDRA KORCZ
Contributing Writer
The College of Saint Rose is hosting the Poetry Out Loud State Finals this Saturday in Saint Joesph’s Hall.
Over the past three weeks, Saint Rose has hosted the Poetry Out Loud Regional Finals. Each contestant had to memorize and recite three poems of their choice, each in separate rounds. All of the poems appeared in the yearly Poetry Out Loud print or online anthology. Scoring was a cumulative amount from all rounds added by a panel of judges to determine the winner and a runner-up from each of the Regional Finals.
“All of the contestants were really talented. It’s hard to speak in front of a crowd on any occasion. To have to present a perfectly memorized piece is a whole other story. It’s a lot of pressure, but everyone handled it well and did a phenomenal job,” said Chris Surprenant, accuracy judge and Arts Editor for The Chronicle.
There will be 16 students from eight regional competitions held all over the New York state. The 12 schools represented so far are: Amherst Central High School, Hackley School (Tarrytown), Bronxville High School, Sysosset High School, Saratoga Springs High School, Schenectady High School, Roy C. Ketcham High School (Wappingers Falls), Niskayuna High School, Brooklyn Technical High School, the High School for Public Service: Heroes of Tomorrow (NYC), Herricks High School, and the Rochester Academy Charter School.
Unlike the Regional Finals, the State Finals will have five regular judges and an accuracy judge/prompter in the finals. As for rounds, there will be the usual two rounds, with the top five participants, after both rounds, moving on to round three.
The students recite the same poems they chose for rounds one and two in the regional competitions, in the same exact order. Then, the five competing in round three will be using the tiebreaker poems they originally chose as well. No substitutions or changes are allowed.
There will be a winner and runner-up announced once the judges’ scores have been tabulated after round three. The judges are Christopher Rizzo, Nancy White, Thom Francis, Barbara Ungar, Daniel Nester, and Katie Issel Pitre.
“I’m not saying it’s like an Ultimate Fighting championship, but for poetry recitation it’s pretty close,” jokes Daniel Nester, Poetry Out Loud judge and Associate Professor at The College of Saint Rose, about the State Finals.
“You can look forward to an outstanding group of high school students, grades 9-12, who have won at their respective school levels and then gone on to place first or second in the regional competitions with high caliber recitations of their selected poems,” echoes Ellen Rubin, New York State Poetry Out Loud Coordinator.
The New York state winner will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to compete for the national title. The state winner’s school will also receive a $500 stipend, to be used specifically for the purchase of poetry books.
In addition, the New York State winner and runner-up are invited by Rubin to the New York State Writers Hall of Fame Gala at the Princeton Club in NYC, on Tuesday, Jun. 4th. The students’ dinner will be paid for and their parents’ meals will be discounted. In addition to being invited to this prestigious event, Rubin will recognize them and their achievements.
The two students will meet the 2013 living inductees: Marilyn Hacker, Alice McDermott, Calvin Trillin, and Walter Mosley. This year the New York State Writers Hall of Fame is also inducting four deceased New York State authors who will be represented by their family, close friends, and/or societies.
The Finals will begin at 2 p.m. this Saturday, Mar. 16.
