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The 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals took place on May 9 & 10, 2023 at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. The event host was Joy Sunday.

Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri, a junior at Columbus North High School, is the 2023 Poetry Out Loud® National Champion. The 2nd place winner is Edward Wilson Jr., a senior at Jackson Preparatory School in Mississippi, and Madison Harris, a freshman at Indian Creek School in Crownsville, Maryland took 3rd place. Wilson Jr. will receive a prize of $10,000 and Harris will receive a prize of $5,000. Victoria Laine Jelks (Kansas), Stella Wright (Minnesota), Wica-ta-wi Hoksina Brown (Montana), Abby Sullivan (North Carolina), Mariam Botana de Armas (Texas), and Morgan Sprouse (West Virginia) are the other six national finalists and each will receive a prize of $1,000. The representing schools/ organizations of the nine finalists will each receive $500 that will go towards the purchase of poetry materials.

Learn more here.

State Finals

State/Territory Date Winner & School/Org
Alabama
Alaska
American Samoa
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Find your state’s Poetry Out Loud coordinator here.