by Divya Kumar
News Editor

Coppell High School’s first, and soon to be annual, Poetry Out Loud competition begins today, with a preliminary round for ninth and tenth graders, to be followed tomorrow with the same round for eleventh and twelfth graders. Information abou tthe competition was spread throughout English classes, in which teachers were to pick out students who were serious about competing to make it to the first set of rounds.

Thirteen participants will be competing in the two days in order to advance to the school competition, which will be held on Feb. 25. On a date to be later announced in March, the state competition will be held, and those who proceed shall go on to the national competition in Washington D.C. on April 27.

Each of the students participating were instructed to pick a poem to read aloud in front of a panel of judges. These participants were then judged based off of their physical presence, or how the student is poised, their voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty (poem with difficult language, syntax, etc.), evidence of understanding and overall performance of the poem.

On the official Poetry Out Loud website, a list of appropriate poems to choose from have been posted. These poems range from well-known Shakesperian dialogues to some lesser-known writings. However, regardless of the poem chosen, all students are being judged equally off of the six categories.

For more information regarding the Poetry Out Loud competition, click here.