Imagine spilling all your emotions and feelings on a big stage in front of your school. Poetry Out Loud is a unique event run by Tupelo High School’s poetry club. The club is run by English III teachers Chelsey Wilson and Liz Autry. 

“Poetry Out Loud is one component of our poetry club. We have a poetry club called Golden Minds, where we write our poetry and share our love of poetry. But the Poetry Out Loud component is a recitation contest hosted by the Mississippi Arts Commission. We have a state contest, and then the winners from the state contest go to the national contest in Washington, DC,” Mrs. Autry said.

The students that participate in this contest have to choose two poems of their choice and perform the poem with emotional appeal and feeling.

“So they have gone through the anthology of poetry, And they found two poems that they like, and they are learning them and memorizing them and practicing reciting them so that they can participate in the recitation contest,”  Mrs. Autry said.

The top 3 winners could also win money based on their scores along the rubric. 

“National winners stand to win $20,000. The first-place person has $20,000 in their pocket. A second place is $10,000. In third place is $5,000. Along with those amounts that go to the individual, the schools also get money for their libraries,“  Autry said. 

The Golden Lines are soon to have a contest where seven students, all volunteers, go against each other to become the top winner. The top winner will go to regionals held in Jackson, where they will go against other schools. 

“Our school contest is December 13, at six o’clock in the small auditorium. We have about six or seven contestants from the school. And then our top winner will go to regionals in Jackson,” Autry said.