The state finals for Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation and performance competition, yielded a new state champion from Charleston who will represent South Carolina in the national competition.
Jessie Leitzel (pictured), a senior who attends Charleston County School of the Arts, made a return to the state finals and earned first prize over five other finalists in the in-person competition held Saturday, March 9 in Columbia.
Leitzel was first runner up in 2023. As the new state champion, she will receive a $200 prize and get to represent South Carolina in the national finals competition among a total of 55 state and jurisdictional finalists for the chance to win the $20,000 first prize. The 2024 national finals will be held from April 30-May 2 in Washington and will stream on arts.gov, the website of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The South Carolina Arts Commission coordinates Poetry Out Loud in South Carolina, partnering with the NEA and the Poetry Foundation to bring the competition to South Carolina 9-12 graders.
Leitzel recited “Diameter” by Michelle Y Burke in the first round, “I Remember, I Remember” by Thomas Hood in the second round, and “Old Men Playing Basketball” by B.H. Fairchild in the final round to win.
Abhirami Balachandran of Calvary Christian School in Myrtle Beach was first runner up. The 2023 state champion, Catherine Wooten of Spartanburg, was second runner up.
Al Black, poet; Cindi Boiter, Jasper Project executive director; spoken word artist Lester Boykin; and performing artist Marilyn Matheus served as judges. Stage actor and SCAC fellow Paul Kaufmann was accuracy judge. Actor and professional speaker Shannon Ivey was performance coach and actor and theatre professor Eric Bultman served as recitation coach. Serving as host was Ray McManus, English professor at USC Sumter and recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts in the artist category. Thomas Maluck, Richland Library teen services librarian, was the prompter. From the SCAC, Daphne Hudson of Aiken was the tabulator and Bonita Peeples of Columbia is Poetry Out Loud program coordinator.
