This year marks Poetry Out Loud’s 20th Anniversary and there is much to celebrate. On Thursday May 8, 2025, Isavel Mendoza, a 12th-grade student at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, became the Poetry Out Loud 2025 National Champion. Isavel’s recitations of poems by Keith S. Wilson, Kabir, and E.E. Cummings won over judges.The National Finals, was hosted by National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett in Washington, DC. As National Champion. Mendoza receives a cash prize of $20,000.
2025 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Isavel Mendoza, Photo by James Kegley.
The second-place 2025 Poetry Out Loud winner Teonna Randle, a 12th-grade student at Jefferson High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, receives a $10,000 prize. The third-place winner Kaitlyn Lubega, a 12th-grade student at the United World College –USA in Montezuma, New Mexico, receives a $5,000 prize. The other six national finalists were Mona Koko (Alaska), Nyla Dinkins (District of Columbia), Tiana Renee Jones (Georgia), Javontae Cranmo (Kentucky), Hadassah Broughton (New Jersey), and Elisha Dalmeida (Oklahoma). Each receives a $1,000 prize. The schools/organizations representing the top nine finalists each receive $500 to purchase poetry materials. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded for Poetry Out Loud. The Poetry Out Loud National Semifinals and Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.
From left to right: Second place winner Teonna Randle (SD), National Champion Isavel Mendoza (PA), and third place winner Kaitlyn Lubega (NM). Photo by James Kegley.
Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.5 million students and 85,000 teachers from 21,000 schools and organizations across the nation have participated in Poetry Out Loud. As a national program, Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through analysis, memorization, performance, and competition. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, in conjunction with state arts agencies, support this nation-wide program with participants from all fifty states plus Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American, Samoa, and Puerto Rico.
To find out more information on how to participate in the 2025-2026 program please visit https://www.poetryoutloud.org/
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency
