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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

 Denver, CO (March 16, 2010) - Ben Reilly, a sophomore from George Washington High School in Denver, won the title of Colorado State Champion of the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. Zack Clemmons, from The Classical Academy, was named State Runner Up. 

The Colorado Council on the Arts presented the Colorado state finals competition. Twenty-one high school students from across the state, who had already competed and won at the school level, competed to become the Poetry Out Loud Colorado champion. Poet and University of Colorado-Denver Professor, Jake Adam York, emceed the evening. Contestants recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 500 classic and contemporary poems. 

Reilly's winning recitations were "Playing Dead" by Andrew Hudgins, "The Maldive Shark" by Herman Melville, and "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Reilly is a sophomore in the International Baccalaureate Programme at George Washington High School. He is on the baseball, tennis, and speech and debate teams and plays chess as a hobby. He enjoys reading fantasy and science fiction and likes Shakespeare's plays. 

Reilly receives $200, and George Washington receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The state champion will travel on an all-expenses-paid trip with a chaperone to the national competition in Washington, D.C., April 26 & 27, 2010. The second place finalist, Zack Clemmons, receives $100, with $200 for the The Classical Academy school library. 

The Poetry Out Loud national finals will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends, including a $20,000 cash prize for the Poetry Out Loud national champion. More than 150,000 students across the country are expected to take part in Poetry Out Loud this year. 

The competition, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. 

About the Colorado Council on the Arts: 

The mission of The Colorado Council on the Arts, a division of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, is to promote the cultural, educational, and economic growth of Colorado through development of its arts and cultural heritage. For more information, visit www.coloarts.org.