SACRAMENTO, CA – Lillian Braly of Marin County is this year’s California Poetry Out Loud state champion. A high-school junior from Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School, the 17-year-old received first place in the statewide recitation competition held March 8 and 9 in Sacramento. Braly will go on to represent the state of California at the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest taking place April 27-29 in Washington, D.C. 

The 2026 State Finals marked the 21st year of California Poetry Out Loud, which encourages youth to learn about poetry through memorization and performance. Students representing 48 counties competed for the state title. An event program, including a listing of all the 2026 county champions is available here. 

California Arts Council Executive Director addressed the county champions at Monday’s event: “Art is a tool to connect with ourselves, to each other, and society. These are ingredients for a civil society rooted in democracy and you are part of that story. I want to thank you for being here, I want to thank you for tenacity, and for your brilliance, because you are all champions—right here, right now, make no mistake about that.”  

Braly recited “Saturday’s Child” by Countee Cullen, “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, and “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman. Her Creative Writing teacher is Rebecca Pollack. 

“Poetry Out Loud was my very first chance to perform on a stage freshman year, and the joy of it has yet to leave me!” said Braly.  

Sailee Charlu, a 17-year-old junior at Orange County School of the Arts was runner-up and will represent California in the national finals in the event Braly is unable to attend. Zoewin Abariga, a 17-year-old senior from Great Oak High School in Riverside County, received an honorable mention. 

Poetry Ourselves 

Since 2019, California’s county champions have also been invited to submit original written works at the state level through the Poetry Ourselves creative writing contest. The winning piece for 2026, “Alchemy,” was written by 16-year-old El Dorado High School sophomore and Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud champion Beza Getahun.  

Sailee Charlu was selected as runner-up with her submission, titled “Ode to my deviated nasal septa, a Champu Kavya for my Mother,” and 15-year-old Mahati Vaidyanathan, a sophomore at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo County, received third place for her poem “Observations by a Non-Athletic Student During Seventh-Period PE Warm-Ups.” 

All three were invited to recite their original works before their fellow Poetry Out Loud contestants on the second day of the finals. Their poems are also featured on the California Poetry Out Loud website. 

Hero Award 

Established by the California Arts Council, the Hero Award acknowledges the remarkable work done in the classroom by the bevy of teachers, coaches, teaching artists and others who bring the California Poetry Out Loud program to life each year. 

This year’s Poetry Out Loud Hero Award honors the work of Robin Moore of Contra Costa County. Moore has been an integral part of Contra Costa’s Poetry Out Loud program since 2007, when the CAC first asked all state counties to participate. She first coordinated the county’s program while in the role of Executive Director of the county’s Arts & Culture Commission and continued as County Coordinator after leaving the director position in 2009. She grew the program to include as many as 16 schools, acting as County Coordinator until the 2023-24 school year.  

About Poetry Out Loud 

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation 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. In 2026, more than 13,500 students and 400 teachers at over 200 schools participated in California Poetry Out Loud. 

The California Poetry Out Loud State Finals is the culminating competition between county winners who have shown their merit in the classroom, school, district, and county (a pyramid competition structure similar to the spelling bee). The state champion receives $200 and a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national Poetry Out Loud finals, paid for by the National Endowment from the Arts. The winner’s school will also receive $500 for library materials. The State Finals runner-up will receive a $100 cash prize, with $200 awarded to their school for book purchases. Competing at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals presents the opportunity for approximately $50,000 in scholarship funds and related winnings. 

The California Poetry Out Loud program also incorporates a creative writing component of the competition, Poetry Ourselves, offered for the eighth year in a row. County champions are invited to submit an original written poem of no more than 50 lines, judged anonymously by a guest judge. The winner receives $100; poems by the winner, runner-up, and honorable mention recipients are recognized and featured on the California Poetry Out Loud website. 

Participating Counties 

Finalists from the following counties competed at the 2026 California Poetry Out Loud State Finals: 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 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 españo