SACRAMENTO, CA – High school students representing 49 California counties will converge on Sacramento March 8 and 9 to compete in the state finals for the 21st annual California Poetry Out Loud competition.
“The California Poetry Out Loud State Finals are one of the highlights of the California Arts Council’s annual calendar,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Danielle Brazell. “We are honored to host this event to celebrate the creative expression of some of California’s finest young artists.”
An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and administered statewide by the California Arts Council, Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Participants gain proficiency in public speaking, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. California’s Poetry Out Loud is the largest event of its kind in the U.S. and has grown steadily since its inception. This year, more than 13,500 students and 400 teachers at over 200 schools participated in California Poetry Out Loud.
The poetry recitation contest will kick off with two rounds of competition at the Jean Runyon Little Theatre in Downtown Sacramento on Sunday, March 8. The following day county champions will gather in the state Capitol to meet their legislators, receive certificates of achievement, and compete in the final round of poetry performance, after which a state champion will be named.
The newly crowned state champion will receive a $200 cash prize and $500 toward literary materials to be donated to their school, plus a trip to Washington, D.C. to represent California in the Poetry Out Loud National Finals from April 27 to 29.
The California Arts Council also runs a parallel program for students’ original poetry called Poetry Ourselves. County champions are invited to submit an original written poem of no more than 50 lines, to be judged anonymously by a panel of literary professionals. The winner of Poetry Ourselves receives $100. A runner-up and an honorable mention will also be recognized at the event, and all three poems will be published to the California Arts Council’s Poetry Out Loud website and performed in the state Capitol at the competition’s conclusion.
Event Program and Live Webcast
The event program will be distributed at the event; a digital version is available here.
The 2026 Poetry Out Loud finals are free and open to the public, although space is limited. Interested parties are encouraged to livestream day two of the excitement from home at capoetryoutloud.org/watch and cheer on the competition via social media using #CAPOL26.
Information and links will be made available on the California Poetry Out Loud website prior to Monday’s event.
Participating Counties
Finalists from the following counties are expected to compete at this year’s event: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Ventura, Yolo, and Yuba.
For more information, visit capoetryoutloud.org.
Media Inquiries Only:
Kimberly Brown
Public Affairs Specialist
kimberly.brown@arts.ca.gov
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Members of the California Arts Council include: Roxanne Messina Captor, Chair; Nicola Miner, Vice Chair; Caleb Duarte; Vicki Estrada; Leah Goodwin; Roy Hirabayashi; Alex Israel; Dorka Keehn; Phil Mercado; Rick Stein. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
The California Arts Council is committed to increasing the accessibility of its online content. For language and accessibility assistance, visit https://arts.ca.gov/about/about-us/language-communications-assistance. To read this announcement in Spanish, please use the website’s Google Translate tool by clicking the “Translate” link in the upper righthand corner of this page.
El Consejo de las Artes de California se compromete a aumentar la accesibilidad de sus contenidos en línea. Para obtener ayuda con el idioma y la accesibilidad, visite https://arts.ca.gov/about/about-us/language-communications-assistance. Para leer este anuncio en español, utilice la herramienta Google Translate del sitio web haciendo clic en el enlace “Traducir” situado en la esquina superior derecha de esta página.
