Montgomery, AL – Auburn High School senior Youssef Biaz won another national championship for the state of Alabama and a $20,000 college scholarship. Biaz won the 2011 Poetry Out Loud National Poetry Recitation Contest in Washington, DC. To become national champion, Biaz competed against 53 students from other states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Biaz, Alabama’s two-time state champion, won the national contest with the poem Filling Station by Elizabeth Bishop. In addition to his $20,000 college scholarship, the Auburn High School library receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Biaz advanced to the national contest in Washington, DC, from a field of more than 365,000 students who tested their skills in poetry recitation in more than 2,000 schools nationwide. He plans to attend film school at the University of Southern California.
National Poetry Out Loud judges included award-winning actress Kerry Washington, a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, actress and author Amber Tamblyn, and Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Now in its sixth year of national competition, Poetry Out Loud is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, which encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools students across the country. Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
The Alabama State Council on the Arts partners with the Alabama Alliance for Arts in Education to implement Poetry Out Loud in Alabama. In 2012, Alabama state finals are scheduled at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival on February 20, 2012. Schools interested in registering for next year’s Poetry Out Loud should contact Diana Green at 334-242-4076, Ext. 241 or diana.green@arts.alabama.gov. For more information, visit www.poetryoutloud.org.
Video of Youssef Biaz, Poetry Out Loud Champion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRj0RoECUI&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
# # #