Poetry Out Loud Competition Registration Open Now!

Description

Competition Rules, Registration & Dates

The Region 1 Poetry Out Loud competition will be held Saturday, January 31st, 2026 at the Ben May Main Library. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9-12 are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition. The deadline to register for the 2025-2026 Poetry Out Loud Region 1 Competition is January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

The Region 1 Poetry Out Loud competition will be held Saturday, January 25th, 2025. Region 1 consists of Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Choctaw, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Washington, and Wilcox counties. Only currently enrolled students in grades 9th-12th are eligible, with an exception made for 8th-grade students participating in a 9th- through 12th-grade class. A student may not advance to the state finals without competing in a lower-level competition.

There are a few updates for consideration for this year’s programming:

The following provides you with all of the State and National information currently available: 

State: “Original and Social Issue Competitions will now be one competition and will mirror the National Anthology Competition with each student performing two original works and the top five will move on to a third and final round. We will also be introducing in the Original category a separate judging of the written poems. Works will be sent to the judges before the state finals, and they will be asked to judge the poem based on the written work.

Tentative date for State Competition 2026: February 26th, 2026, at Alabama Shakespeare Festival (9 a.m. and 1 p.m. start times). 

The registration form linked below should be filled out by the individual student planning to compete in the regional competition on January 31st, 2026 no later than Saturday, January 24th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

If you are an educator or student in Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Choctaw, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia,
Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Washington, & Wilcox counties, contact Sydney Cramer, Region 1 Poetry Out Loud Coordinator, with any questions