The Maine Poetry Out Loud competition hosted its second year of virtual recitations organized by the Maine Arts Commission. Ten students rose through the ranks of school-wide and regional contests to compete in the Maine State Final in early March, according to a news release from the commission.

Sofya Lantratova, a senior from George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, is the state champion. She is on her way to compete in the virtual National Poetry Out Loud Semifinals competition in May.

Colette Carrillo, a senior at Waterville Senior High School, finished runner-up.

For the regional and state finals this year, Maine high school students submitted recorded video recitations that were scored by a panel of judges.

Other Maine State Finalists included Emma Bennett, Baxter Academy of Technology and Science, Portland; Emelia Bailey, Westbrook High School; Ogechi Obi, Bangor High School; Chloe Schueman, Greely High School, Cumberland Center; Rose Tuttle, Mt. Ararat High School, Topsham; Brett Palmer, Gardiner Area High School; Julia Ordway, Gorham High School; and Sadie Luehman, Medomak Valley High School, Waldoboro.

The Maine State Finals judges were Mihku Paul, Kate Fletcher, Salim Salim and Todd McKinley.

Lantratova recited “Emily Dickinson at the Poetry Slam” by Dan Vera, “Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How do I love thee?,” “Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and “We Lived Happily During the War” by Ilya Kaminsky.

All 55 state and jurisdictional finalists will participate in the National Semifinals, due to stream on Sunday, May 1. The top nine students will advance to the National Finals, which will stream on Sunday, June 5. Both the semifinals and finals will be streamed at arts.gov.

Because students were not able to gather to compete in person, the commission is partnering with Portland-based Media Loma to create a film to celebrate the event and showcase the students’ work. The film will include three rounds of student recitation videos, as well as a recitation from Maine’s Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma. Former Maine Poetry Out Loud State Champion Allan Monga will serve as emcee in the film. The film will be released in the coming weeks.

Maine’s Poetry Out Loud program is organized by the Maine Arts Commission in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

For more information about Maine Poetry Out Loud, visit mainearts.com or email Meg Fournier, interim director of media and performing arts at the Maine Arts Commission, at megan.b.fournier@maine.gov.

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