Arts Council
Torie DiMartile wins Poetry Out Loud state championship

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Torie DiMartile, a senior at Beechwood High School, Ft. Mitchell, emerged as the winner among the 21 high school champions from across the Commonwealth who competed in the sixth annual Poetry Out Loud state finals today in Frankfort. DiMartile was the second place winner in 2010 and 2009.

DiMartile was both excited and poised when she talked about winning the statewide poetry recitation competition presented by the Kentucky Arts Council. “Wow, I didn’t believe after 3 years, I finally came in first,” said DiMartile. “I always liked all kinds of writing, but I never really enjoyed poetry until Poetry Out Loud. When I get on stage, the words seem to come off the page and into the audience and now I love poetry.  Poetry Out Loud has also taught me to be a better speaker, a better reader and a better writer.”

Torie DiMartile’s mother, Pat DiMartile also had complimentary words for Poetry Out Loud. “I think it’s wonderful. Before Tori became involved, I didn’t care for poetry at all. Now I read poetry and listen with a different ear.”

As winner of the state finals, DiMartile and chaperone will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete with other state champions in the National Finals, April 27-29, 2011. Beechwood High School will also receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books for its library. The Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest will award $50,000 in scholarships and school prizes to winners and top finalists.

Tyler Poteet, a senior at Butler Traditional High School, Louisville was named second place winner. He will receive a $100 cash prize and $200 for his school to purchase library books.

Both DiMartile and Poteet will be invited to recite poems at the Kentucky Arts Council’s Kentucky Writers’ Day celebration April 25, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort.

The Poetry Out Loud state finals are presented by the Kentucky Arts Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, as part of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, a program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition.

Competing students and their school supporters were able to travel from Kentucky cities as far away as Paducah and Pineville this year because the arts council received a state travel grant from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation to increase the range of outreach across the Commonwealth. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation is honored to provide travel support for regional and state finals of Poetry Out Loud in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities and military bases.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.

The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation supports the richness and diversity of the region’s arts resources and promotes wider access to the art and artists of the region, nation and world.

- ### -