For the second year in 2023, the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry hosted a regional contest for Poetry Out Loud in the Northeast Oklahoma area. Any 9th-12th grade student in the NE OK region whose school was not conducting the program could participate through ROMP. Home-schooled students in the region could also participate.
Poetry Out Loud is a wonderful program that encourages teenagers to find poems that have meaning for them, learn them by heart, and perform them in competition. The poems are all selected from the Poetry Out Loud anthology and website.
The ROMP Regional Contest was held Monday, January 23, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at the VFW Hall, in Locust Grove. The winner of this contest goes on to the state competition in Edmond in March.
UPDATE: Our winner Jamie Smothers won Runner-Up at the state competition this year!
2023 Winner: Jamie Smothers, Oologah High School
2022 Winners
ROMP Director Shaun Perkins, Teacher Faith Phillips, Contestants: Tyla Sawney, Kensington Walker, Tanner Kallam, Jackson Wells, Bree Alberty, Teacher Jennifer Denslow. Front Row: Contestants Emily Alberty, Dallas Green, Abby Nesbitt 
2nd Place: Emily Alberty, Oologah High School 
3rd Place, Abby Nesbitt, Oologah High School 
Winners! 
Contestants: Tyla Sawney, Stilwell High School, and from Oologah High School: Tanner Kallam, Kensington Walker, Jackson Wells, Bree Alberty, and ROMP director Shaun Perkins 
Winner: Dallas Green, Oologah High School
The winner of our contest, Dallas Green, Oologah High School, went to the state contest on March 8, 2022, in Edmond. The national competition was April 25-27, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Read more about the program and the poems at Poetry Out Loud. ROMP will sponsor this contest yearly.
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 