Colorado Creative Industries announced in March 2022 that Aidyn Reid of Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs was named the 2022 Colorado Poetry Out Loud State Champion.
Poetry Out Loud, presented in partnership with Colorado Creative Industries, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, is a national program that encourages high school students to learn about classic and contemporary poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Since the program began in 2005, more than four million students across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud.
Competing against students from 10 Colorado high schools at the Poetry Out Loud State Finals on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at Lakewood Cultural Center, Reid had the highest scores for her performances of “This is Not a Small Voice,” by Sonia Sanchez, “My Therapist Wants to Know about my Relationship to Work,’ by Tiana Clark, and “When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer,” by Walt Whitman.
Reid received $500 and advanced to the Virtual Poetry Out Loud National Semifinals on May 1, 2022. Reid’s school, Fountain Valley School, will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials.
Reid will represent Colorado at the Virtual Poetry Out Loud National Finals on June 7, 2022. The winner of the national finals will receive a $20,000 scholarship.
Colorado’s Poetry Out Loud program is sponsored by Colorado Creative Industries, housed in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade, and the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Lighthouse Writers Workshop.